I know NHS isnt perfect, but...

Massachusetts has a pretty good balance for the US system though. (Its not without faults either though.     

An article in the NY Times today was comparing Obama's scheme with the present Massachusetts system.  There is concern that either they are not penalizing employers enough for not providing insurance (so they'll ignore it) or that the costs to the employer will be so high that wages will be lower or else layoffs.

But at least its a start...

Exactly.

Hijack: Diabetes- I volunteer for Diabetes UK and there is an enormous amount of misinformation out there about what cause's it. Its not anyone's fault- it genetics and envionmental factors. Yes, lifestyle can help reduce insulin resistance, but there are numerous other reason's why it happens.  Chances are, even if you live a healthy life, if you have impaired glucose tolerance and you reduce by lifestyle, as you get into older age, it will come back anyways.
Hijack over

As for the NHS, its far from perfect, but at least no one has to go without.
Massachusetts has a pretty good balance for the US system though. (Its not without faults either though.     

Thank you. I really appreciate you coming forward and clearing up this mis-conception that we are in bad shape because we did it to ourselves and now we want to leach. Far from it. If it will mean a better life for us, we will kiss the Queen's feet.

In all actuallity, you are born into slavery here. Unless you are born to the ruling class, you are slaves to them and their rules. And its not the doc's fault either. Some times they dont get paid. Its the insurance comapines and the hospitals here that run for profit.

Statements like this are really dangerous.  No matter how bad you may have it, I really think a comparison to slavery is a bit much and really denigrates true slavery.

An article in the NY Times today was comparing Obama's scheme with the present Massachusetts system.  There is concern that either they are not penalizing employers enough for not providing insurance (so they'll ignore it) or that the costs to the employer will be so high that wages will be lower or else layoffs.

But at least its a start...

It certainly has drawbacks, but it does have a good foundation to build on, in rebuilding a broken health insurance system.  I know several folks on MassHealth who are eternally grateful for it and the fact that they don't have to be on medicaid/medicare. Of course, MassHealth won't be much more if people decide to actually eliminate the income tax in that state, but that's another debate all together.   

Of course, MassHealth won't be much more if people decide to actually eliminate the income tax in that state  

Geez, yeah

Statements like this are really dangerous.  No matter how bad you may have it, I really think a comparison to slavery is a bit much and really denigrates true slavery.

Well, there are many different types of slavery. You have types like the Americans imposed on African-Americans and you haves ones imposed to keep the working class ignorant, broke, and defendant on the system created by the ruling class.

Not the right place for this on this thread though.
PM me if you have thoughts.

An article in the NY Times today was comparing Obama's scheme with the present Massachusetts system.  There is concern that either they are not penalizing employers enough for not providing insurance (so they'll ignore it) or that the costs to the employer will be so high that wages will be lower or else layoffs.

But at least its a start...

San Fransisco is actually implementing Universal Health Care for those who live in the city limits.

Ever since she left my parents home, she's known that she needs to get jobs with great insurance.  Even if the job sucked, she did it because that's what she needed to do.

This is what I have been thinking throughout this whole discussion.  My mother works at a grocery store deli.  Glamorous?  No.  Fun?  No.  Only thing she's qualified for?  Not by any means.  But it has great benefits, and is completely worth it to her.  I would think your best solution would be getting into jobs that offer decent benefits.  Moving here, while a good solution for my boyfriend and I for the next few years, is costing us a ridiculous amount of money.  And I may be a huge believer in socialized health care, I am about to start paying for private insurance because I am on a 3-4 monthy wait list for physio for something that affects my quality of life on a daily basis.  Even if I wasn't going private, we would still be spending more money on simply living here than we would living in the states and paying for private insurance.

This is what I have been thinking throughout this whole discussion.  My mother works at a grocery store deli.  Glamorous?  No.  Fun?  No.  Only thing she's qualified for?  Not by any means.  But it has great benefits, and is completely worth it to her.  I would think your best solution would be getting into jobs that offer decent benefits.  Moving here, while a good solution for my boyfriend and I for the next few years, is costing us a ridiculous amount of money.  And I may be a huge believer in socialized health care, I am about to start paying for private insurance because I am on a 3-4 monthy wait list for physio for something that affects my quality of life on a daily basis.  Even if I wasn't going private, we would still be spending more money on simply living here than we would living in the states and paying for private insurance.

The benefits here cost money, Lets say I did that deli job. Would I even be able to afford the benefits? I was a school bus driver and they charged me $1000/per/mo for insurance. Could I afford it? No. But they expect you to here. If I can figure this citizenship thing out, I will be on the next flight over.

The benefits here cost money, Lets say I did that deli job. Would I even be able to afford the benefits? I was a school bus driver and they charged me $1000/per/mo for insurance. Could I afford it? No. But they expect you to here. If I can figure this citizenship thing out, I will be on the next flight over.

You keep saying 'here' as if no one on the thread knows what it's like to live in the US or what it's like to have health insurance... but the majority of people here on the forum are American and have only been in the UK for a couple of years or even just a few weeks... and some of the people who have replied to this thread are even living in the US right now.

You're talking as if you need to educate us about the US healthcare system because we don't know anything about it - but apart from myself and maybe a handful of other members, everyone else was born and raised in the US, with the US healthcare system, so they know how it works (and I also have some experience of it, because I lived in the US and had US health insurance for 8 months of this year - January to August 2008).

Thats what I am here to find out. I think our best bet is that my grandfather was Irish born. I think I can go that way. Otherwise, I dont know. Here, you just come over and say you want to work so it is a foreign concept that you have to qualify. All I can say is that we want to be productive members of British society.

Ireland changed its rules last year - tightened them up.

I'd check on the visa boards.  There are some members here who have Irish nationality and/or are here as spouses of EU/EEA nationals from Ireland.

But IIRC the grandparent door's not as open as it once was and you'd have to be resident in Ireland - where you have to pay co-pays at the least - for some time before being able to get to the UK.

Because of course, Ireland is a republic and not part of the UK. 

The benefits here cost money, Lets say I did that deli job. Would I even be able to afford the benefits? I was a school bus driver and they charged me $1000/per/mo for insurance. Could I afford it? No. But they expect you to here. If I can figure this citizenship thing out, I will be on the next flight over.

And if you move to the UK you're going to very likely be earning less, paying more in rent/council tax, plus having nearly a quarter of your wages go on tax. The UK is not some magic, fix-all where everything is perfect.

Have you ever even been to the UK? What are you going to do if you spend all the money you have to relocate only to find out that you're on NHS waiting lists and can't be seen and nothing can be done about these conditions? You likely wouldn't have the finances available to pack up and move again.

If this is really what you want, and it appears it is, then I wish you the best of luck. But as an outsider looking in on this situation, it honestly appears that you want this  quick fix so bad you haven't objectively weighed all of the consequences or possibilities.

You keep saying 'here' as if no one on the thread knows what it's like to live in the US or what it's like to have health insurance... but the majority of people here on the forum are American and have only been in the UK for a couple of years or even just a few weeks... and some of the people who have replied to this thread are even living in the US right now.

You're talking as if you need to educate us about the US healthcare system because we don't know anything about it - but apart from myself and maybe a handful of other members, everyone else was born and raised in the US, with the US healthcare system, so they know how it works (and I also have some experience of it, because I lived in the US and had US health insurance for 8 months of this year - January to August 2008).

Im sorry. I should have qualified it. I meant here, as in my area. I realize that most of you are US born but I hope you realize that the way some of you speak to me it is as if you have forgotten how it really is in the US, or are well enough that you dont know how bad it is with out good income and cheap benefits or doctors that make you come in and only let them take care of one thing that is wrong with you. That is how it is here, in the DFW area, for us.

And if you move to the UK you're going to very likely be earning less, paying more in rent/council tax, plus having nearly a quarter of your wages go on tax. The UK is not some magic, fix-all where everything is perfect.

Have you ever even been to the UK? What are you going to do if you spend all the money you have to relocate only to find out that you're on NHS waiting lists and can't be seen and nothing can be done about these conditions? You likely wouldn't have the finances available to pack up and move again.

If this is really what you want, and it appears it is, then I wish you the best of luck. But as an outsider looking in on this situation, it honestly appears that you want this  quick fix so bad you haven't objectively weighed all of the consequences or possibilities.

I have weighed those things. I would want to make sure that we can make enough to sustain ourselves. And you are the first to complain about wait lists to see a GP that I have seen yet. Thats why I made this thread.

Ireland changed its rules last year - tightened them up.

I'd check on the visa boards.  There are some members here who have Irish nationality and/or are here as spouses of EU/EEA nationals from Ireland.

But IIRC the grandparent door's not as open as it once was and you'd have to be resident in Ireland - where you have to pay co-pays at the least - for some time before being able to get to the UK.

Because of course, Ireland is a republic and not part of the UK. 

I was under the impression that Ireland was a Commonwealth as was Australia.