Steve,
If you go back and click on the overall section heading ("Healthcare and Insurance"), then go to the third page [3], you'll see that I started a topic titled "A Stay at an NHS Hospital," the third down from the top on that page. It was very PRO-NHS, as you'll see. I won't give all the details here, as I've already done so in that link. My only gripes about that particular ordeal concern the delay in surgery (it was 26 hours later than originally scheduled). Also, other than when my surgeon checked in on me with some med students in tow, for the purpose of telling them about my breaks and what he'd done, I never saw him, much less spoke to him (I was unconscious, obviously, during surgery, and another doctor dealt with me in follow-up visits, after which I went to a physiotherapist).
As far as this particular link goes: I've heard many bad stories about the NHS, particularly when it comes to botch-ups with caesarean sections, etc. Every hospital makes mistakes. The NHS is understaffed and has an overwhelming number of people to serve, so it's understandable that mistakes happen. I have nothing but respect for the medical profession, particularly nurses, and I didn't mean to imply that medical professionals are any less qualified here than they are in the States. My point was simply that the government and private foundations tend to pour more money into research and hospitals in the States than they do here--hence the so-called "brain drain" of some of the best British and other European professionals to the States, where there's more funding for research and what would be considered experimental surgery here.
As a freelancer in the States, I paid for my own insurance, with no contribution from an employer, as I was self-employed--I paid twice as much as those employed by a company. (I don't know how much you know about medical insurance in the States, but generally speaking, if you work for a company, they take a certain amount of money toward private health insurance out of your paycheck, and match it. If you're not working but your spouse is, he or she can put you and your children, if you have any, on his or her insurance policy.)
Except for going to my GP for an initial visit to find out what was wrong with my hip, and following up on his referral to an NHS orthopedist (after paying out of pocket to get X-rays privately, rather than wait for a few months), I've paid for all my doctors' visits here out of pocket (that included a visit to a private orthopedist, who asked for additional Xrays; an MRI to get a more accurate assessment of how far the disease had progressed, as X-rays give only an initial impression; a visit to a Harley Street surgeon--and more X-rays, etc.--believe me, the costs have added up alarmingly). The ONLY advantage I "take" from the NHS is for Oxycontin prescriptions (I have to take it every day). I simply couldn't afford private costs for that, along with everything else.
As far as private insurance goes, it wouldn't matter if I got it here now: what I have would be considered a "preexisting condition," and private insurance wouldn't cover it. (They have a saying in the States: "It's like closing the barn door after the horse has fled"--in other words, it's too late for private insurance to help.)
There are two surgeons in the UK who've been trained in the procedure I mentioned in my last post. One--the Harley Street one--won't do the procedure through the NHS. The other (in Birmingham) has stopped doing it through the NHS--in other words, both want the money that goes with it.
On a side note, my husband, who's been sporadically reading what I'm writing over my shoulder, said I should mention that his grandfather checked into the local NHS hospital for a severe bladder infection. He and other patients contracted MRSA on the ward, which subsequently led to the ward's being shut down/quarantined for 10 days. His grandfather was originally told he'd be in and out of the hospital in five days. Instead, he battled MRSA for eight weeks, and never left--he died directly from MRSA. My in-laws (it was my mother-in-law's father who died) complained repeatedly to the hospital staff about how filthy the ward he was in was--for instance, there was food smeared on the floor that wasn't mopped up for three days, etc.). I know these stories aren't the norm, but even my British husband and in-laws consider time spent in an NHS hospital a gamble, at best.
Suzanne
P.S. I appreciate and respect your views, as well.
