Comparison US Healthcare bill & NHS

Hi all,

Now that the US Healthcare bill has been passed, and healthcare is now going to be available to those who are currently not getting it, and also for future generations who may require it, can I just ask for a simple comparison I've made to be validated or quashed?

Does this mean that Healthcare in the USA will be available to all citizens in the same manner the NHS is to UK citizens?

Or is it that healthcare will be provided to those who can't afford insurance only?

I've only a little bit sort of kept up with all of this so I'm a little vague. With some of my family and relatives within the USA and UK healthcare industries as medical professionals, it's hard to even find out where they are let alone speak to them!

I'm hoping the reform bill provides coverage for all US citizens and those who choose to 'top it up' with extra insurance can do so - similar to what's done here. Am I right in that's what it's about ?

With many US citizens citing the NHS as a nice 'safety net' for wanting to emmigrate here, is it now going to be less of a feature as they'd be entitled to something similar in the US to the level of cover the NHS provides here in the UK?

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

The bill has been passed, it won't be the NHS, but I don't know if anyone knows what exactly the outcome of this bill will be. 

Unintended consequences often occur. 

Plus, I see this as one step in a stage, much the 13th led to the 14th and 15th amendments.  Some things will work, others will not.  I think it will be a learning curve. 

It's nothing like the NHS, there is no public option.
The basics are that insurance companies will no longer be able to reject on the basis of pre-existing conditions and that there will be a safety net for people who have no insurance to help them get insurance.
It's reform of the insurance system, NOT a national healthcare system no matter what Fox News etc will have you believe.

As Bookgrl states, I think it's more a starting point, something to build on.

Maybe this will help
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62K1IV20100321

All I can say is THANK GOD it passed. I'm getting sick reading the FB updates from so many ill-informed conservatives I know or who are friends of my friends. Gah.

Some things will take effect quite soon (within months), others not for many years - I think I saw something that won't take effect until 2018 (it might have been the fine for not being insured, I can't recall now).

As a family of three about to move back to the US after 4 1/2 years in the UK, I'm absolutely thrilled the bill has passed. We're literally heading back with little more than the clothes on our back and no job prospects. Healthcare is a BIG worry for us right now. I'm glad to know that (in a few years at least) the burden might be lessened for families like us.

(and this coming from a lifelong Republican! guess this means I've switched sides.  )

As a family of three about to move back to the US after 4 1/2 years in the UK, I'm absolutely thrilled the bill has passed. We're literally heading back with little more than the clothes on our back and no job prospects. Healthcare is a BIG worry for us right now. I'm glad to know that (in a few years at least) the burden might be lessened for families like us.

(and this coming from a lifelong Republican! guess this means I've switched sides.  )

NO, no!  Coming from a Democrat blue blooded from my Grandfather who was a Senator.  You need to reclaim your party.  Don't let the crazies run it.  (As much as I would like them to so they split the vote).

Hi all

Thanks, I'll read and absorb that article and get my head around it.

As you say it's a start, so things will change and move as things progress. However, it's one of the big things which has been often mentioned in just my family alone when some of them have or are thinking to move to the USA. Now that there will be some sort of coverage, it's means it'll just be that amount easier in the overall plans to evaluate the US.

The fact that as the nations richest nation (who knows for how long though!) it was embarassing that with the Trillions bandied around for NASA and Defence etc that the demographic without basic healthcare were not covered.

A huge turning point and one that will definitley mark Obama's time as president. So overall, a good thing.

Cheers DtM! West London & Slough UK!

As a family of three about to move back to the US after 4 1/2 years in the UK, I'm absolutely thrilled the bill has passed. We're literally heading back with little more than the clothes on our back and no job prospects. Healthcare is a BIG worry for us right now. I'm glad to know that (in a few years at least) the burden might be lessened for families like us.

(and this coming from a lifelong Republican! guess this means I've switched sides.  )

You might get some coverage from the State. It helps if you have kids, but some States already have pretty good systems in place for those who can't afford health care. Others, however, are appalling.

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I'm just looking forward to putting my daughter (age 20) back on my health insurance again.  She's got a pre-existing condition or two, so can't get a private policy.  Medicaid won't help her in Texas, and she's too old for CHIP.  Her job (at the fuel center of a grocery store) won't give her benefits unless she can transfer into the store--which she can't do until early September.  She is also talking about going back to college part time, so access to my insurance is important.

I'm not optimistic. We recently had the bank industry looked at by congress and supossedly changed for the consumer with the result that the interest rate on my credit card balances have escalated.

I'm not optimistic. We recently had the bank industry looked at by congress and supossedly changed for the consumer with the result that the interest rate on my credit card balances have escalated.

You should blame the bank for that.  As soon as they saw regulation coming, they made one last ditch effort to screw their customers as much as possible using the old rules.

You might get some coverage from the State. It helps if you have kids, but some States already have pretty good systems in place for those who can't afford health care. Others, however, are appalling.

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Oh I wish that was true..My youngest sister 25 has a 5 year old and supports herself working ect...not on section 8 or food stamps and Oregon health insurance dropped her because she made to much money.  she has MS and now cant get health insurance for anything! I am hoping with this bill passed she will be able to get those shots once a month she needs as she hasnt had them in two years.  They are $500 bucks a pop

sorry for hijacking again but I wish I understood the health insurance pros and cons and will have to read up on it.

I also feel if it is handed to everyone they will go for a hang nail because they can ;-(

Zoyabean,  my understanding of the provisions in the bill, and the timetable for their roll-out, is that one of the first measures enacted will be the creation of what they're calling the 'high-risk pool.'  I heard 90 days from the bill being signed into law, though I'm sure that's subject to change.

I believe that this is designed to offer an insurance option for adults who have been turned down previously due to chronic, pre-existing conditions.  No info yet on what the cost might be, or how to take advantage of it, etc., but hopefully it'll at least give her an option.

I also feel if it is handed to everyone they will go for a hang nail because they can ;-(

I'm not sure that's true, as I've noticed (at least among the people I know) that people with the NHS don't go to the doctor any more than anyone I knew in the US.  I'm just glad that your sister (and mine! Who constantly has her entire jaw excluded because of pre-existing TMJ) can hopefully get help.
The NHS is one of the things I really appreciate here.  I said this awhile ago in another healthcare thread, but it still stands:

I understand that the NHS isn't perfect. I understand that it might not do everything it possibly could.  I understand the frustration of paying for something and then not getting what you thought you were paying for.  But I will never, ever feel less than fantastic about living somewhere where I know that I will be able to get treated if I am sick. And where it's "safe" to trip and break an ankle!