Can I ask why the U.S. don't want an NHS?

[Fizzielove]

Why don't Americans want an NHS? I just don't get it? Can someone lease explain to this to me?

Well, everyone is used to paying for health insurance, here, or going without and just hoping we don't get sick. And, now, at least we have mandatory health insurance - so lower income people can get insurance they can afford.

But, the health care system here, for me is just a nightmare. Employers change providers every year, it seems. I am always having to look up - what doctor is "in-network" (

because money.
and a perceived fear of socialism and communism.
the same reason why there is no statutory maternity pay.
it's dog eat dog there.
the poor get poorer and the rich get richer and that's how they like things there.

expect similar in the UK in the coming years.
glad i'll only be around for another 50 years max, as the fabric of society continues to break down.
i would hate to be here in 100 years time.

I also agree we will end up with something like what they have in Canada. I'm fine with that. The care there is good and i think the standard in Canada is superior to the NHS.

Not really. They have a patchy system run by 10 different health authorities (it's a provincial matter). Doctors are in short supply.

I imagine the UK system is cheaper and easier to run because of economies of scale. here it's a national matter, and there are far less remote communities here to which you have to send a doctor.

That being said, as an american, I think the NHS is better. I had top notch care in america (excellent plan, excellent city with lots of health care), but that's not the norm even for people with insurance.

Ummmm there is maternity pay. It's covered under disability. They also have FMLA which protects your job while you are pregnant and out on leave.

On balance, I think the NHS is very good. The data shows that it is more cost effective than the US system. But it is a big, clumsy bureaucratic place in some ways. It is almost so big that it reaches a diseconomy of scale! Improved IT systems and the use of "big data" may solve some of this. But they haven't managed to crack it so far. People's health data is a very sensitive issue and that doesn't make it any easier.

Apologies for dragging this up (I was searching for something else) but this got my goat (I work in the NHS):

"AliceAnneB Tue 13-Oct-15 12:17:10
I've experienced both systems and you can drag out all the stats you want but the U.S. System overall provided a much higher level of care .... GP level care would never be acceptable. Under most plans you self refer to specialist without any GP or primary care involvement"

1: Stats are stats, if you think they're wrong then produce some others to argue properly, but your anecdotal experience is no substitute for data.
2: 'Self referring' and a lack of GP screening is a big problem for affordability. It means there is little or no checks on efficiency (hence double the costs but no better performance compared to European models). Cracked rib madden? Well, we'll just pop you in the money printer, err I mean MRI scanner and I'll send the bill to your insurance company on my way to the golf course...

"One point that no one ever brings up is research. The private U.S. fuels drug and device development. "

That's a fair point, but even then Europe is ahead (content.healthaffairs.org/content/early/2009/08/25/hlthaff.28.5.w969.full.pdf+html)

The US system is twice as expensive and you receive lower overall levels of care. But what you do get is very good anecdotal evidence becasue people who sprain a wrist in the US think that the care they get is amazing (it is) - what they don't realise is that that amazingness is wasteful (a 3 hour wait folled by a bandage would be anathema to them) and will not compensate them for when they have cancer, don't quite have the right policy, and are faced the question of bankruptcy, begging online, or death, or all of those (serious conditions in the UK and most of Europe get amazing levels of care, but yes, trivial things are not great).

The NHS is not socialist, it is a nationalised industry, like the Rail Roads. It is run for the benefit of it's owners - i.e. every citizen, and done so via democracy, i.e. voting on how it should be funded and run every few years. Sometimes, when a service is crucial, it should be publicly owned. That is not communist!

Finally, I noticed (after a quick googling of US nationaised industries) that the US airport security industry was nationalised after 2001... by the Republicans. Why? Well you tell me sweet cheeks.

A more pertinent question might be why we want to persist in being the only country (apart from Cuba) that DOES have a NHS...

I'd love to know how this poster is defining 'NHS' if they think this is the case.

I spent a couple of years living in the US and I really don't think Americans could cope with our healthcare system. They've been conditioned to think that they need treatments/tests that they don't just because it generates more money for Drs/Hospitals/insurance companies. Because they get this service they think their health system is far superior when, in fact, we have longer lifespans.

I recall a colleague visiting the Dr as she had a cold and her cough had continued for 2 days. I said that in the UK the Dr wouldn't do anything at that early stage and you would be advised to rest and return only if it persisted for a number of weeks. She was horrified! She had swabs and blood tests and then had to return a week later for a follow up. Honestly she had no other symptoms!

I have experience of both NHS (and other European) and US systems. I had private healthcare in the US, and it was better than any other system I have known. I could see a doctor or specialist on the same day, and treatment and facilities were clean, modern, and the best money could buy. The NHS service and facilities were slow, dingy, and sub par in comparison, but satisfactory; I am sure that if the NHS was all I had known, I would have thought it was fine/great. It was frustrating that it took so long to see a doctor with NHS, and my infection would not have gotten so out of control if I had been in America, when I could have seen my GP quickly. My experience with the NHS left me feeling that American medical care/system was the best.

I am tired of trying to explain to Europeans that no, poor people in America are not left without health care options, and they were not left without healthcare options even before Obama. And when I was a graduate student (and didn't have private health care), I was able to take advantage of a free clinic service in America for treatment, and it was fine (ie, comparable to what I experienced with NHS, though nowhere near as good as with American private insurance when I was employed).