to get slightly annoyed when people refer to the nhs as free?

[rootietootie]

Its not bloody free, well maybe at point of service, but everyone who works pays for it.

What do you want, a big bunch of flowers for paying your taxes?

Dentistry certainly not 'free'.

YANBU

It is FREE at the point of service. You are being v pedantic.

It's shorthand for 'free at the point of use' i.e. you don't have to hand over your credit card before a doctor will treat you.

Get your arse over to ireland then you may have some appreciation for the word 'free'.

There is literally a choice where either yo can get your kids to the doctor or you get food. ?50 to see the GP, then there is the perscription. The hospital is in the region of ?125.
We pay a shed load of tax here too.
YRBU

Yet

Sorry, that was in reply to edam's post

Even on your definition, it's free to anyone who doesn't....

It still counts as free in my book and I pay my taxes. I don't go around complaining that the army isn't free, or schools aren't free, or the signs on the side of the motorway aren't free.

no, why would I want flowers? It just irks me a little that some people think that we should be grateful for even substandard service from the nhs because as they say, "it's free".

YANBU. It's not free. It costs around £2700 per man woman and child in the country to run (£106bn total) and yet we're constantly told that it's nowhere near enough.

It is free to everyone who uses it at the point of service and free to millions who dont pay tax.

Unless you are an extremely high earner then your taxes wont cover what you take out re NHS, schooling, public services etc not to mention covering your share of the benefit bill and other areas that taxes cover.

It only annoys me when people say it with the implication that you shouldn't complain about the NHS -- i.e., if you are complaining about poor quality service and someone says, 'Well but it's free!' At that point I do like to say 'free at the point of service', because of course we do all pay for it and I think have every right to complain when it's not up to scratch.

Many public services we call "free" are paid for by taxes.

YABU. Untwist your knickers.

Whilst it isn't 'free' it still is something that we should all be grateful that it exsists. I don't think that i would have survived my condition if i had lived in many other countries.

My heritige is part non UK and i was very close to my DGM (UK born 1910), listening to her (and others) stories about WC life pre (without) the welfare state makes me apprieciate what we have in the UK.

Don't get me wrong it has been hard fought for and well deserved.

I am grateful for the NHS

Because it is free at the point of service
And generally really good

If people have a bad experience there is a whole department set up to deal with their complaint and the NHS pays out squillions in compensation when it does fuck up.

So I'm not sure what the problem is

I do agree though that bad practice should always be complained about. It is often the indiviadual or group of workers that we are complaining about, if you are paid to do a job/run a service you should be doing it to the best of your ability.

YABU to say "because everyone who works pays for it".

Most people who don't work also pay for it. Or are my taxes specially designated to pay only for MPs' expenses or something?

But yy to what dreamingbohemian says.

YANBU,

For anyone who pays a reasonable amount of taxes, it is no more free than the U.S system where people pay an annual insurance and then, when they are sick, the insurance pays for treatment. For them too, it is "free at the point of service" as the insurance company pays.

Um larrygrylls that's not how it works in the US, or not when I lived there! You pay a bit less with insurance but there's still a "co-pay" for everything. $10 before you even get to see your GP (equivalent person). $75 to visit the ER. $10 - $40 per prescription. That was with good insurance.

OK, at least cheap at the point of service :). The point is that "free at the point of service" is a really silly way of describing something. If I pay for my washing machine in advance, it is "free" when I go to pick it up. It is politician speak for saying that the state should be responsible for using our taxes to pay for it.

I pretty much meant what deamingbohemian says. I am happy to pay my taxes and more or less proud of the nhs (say compared to America's system).

I wouldn't describe $200 a month plus (for my DH, he has shit health) ON top of insurance premiums as cheap! (And that was 7 years ago, presumably charges have increased).