QU for those outside the USA

[HLS]

On healthcare. Do you have insurance like HMO'S or does the government cover your healthcare costs. Just curious.

[Adrenochrome]

On healthcare. Do you have insurance like HMO'S or does the government cover your healthcare costs. Just curious.
Google is your friend.:D

[p2501]

Nah europeans don't get health insurance. the Skekses don't allow it.

[MinionZombie]

In the UK we have something called a "National Insurance" card. Basically, a chunk of your pay slip goes to National Insurance, which covers a bunch of nationaly type things - including the National Health Service (NHS - similar to Canada's Medicare actually) ... a rather ineffecient, badly run, swamped in red tape quagmire of crap.

I'm relatively healthy *touches wood* so I've basically never been to the doc's all my life (bar once to get a stone taken out of my ear around 1990 and a trip - likewise to A&E - to get my arm looked at after taking a spill on the changing room floors in high school, though it was only sprained).

The NHS also helps out with things like a trip to the dentist. A private dentist can (and will) charge absolutely anything they please (a place in town I used to go to now charges £25 for a 5 minute check up). Now, a National Health dentist (which are few and far between these days, resorting to once-a-year check ups rather than bi-annual to cover the huge influx of patients thanks to practices turning private), is covered by the money pot from National Insurance. This means (at my NHS dentist) that the same 5 minute check up will only cost me £5 and add some standard x-rays to that mix and you're paying around £13. Not bad really, if you can find a good dentist that is.

If however you're rich and/or famous then you can afford to go private. Which is great. While you'll pay full whack for everything, you'll get a private room with TV, swish facilities and in many cases - the-f*cking-internet - you'll also be fast-tracked to your operation and dealt with professionally with the highest trained professionals. Under the NHS people will usually end up waiting more than 6 months (in the best possible instance) for an operation - this has often turned into 12 months or even up to around 3 years (or even more in rare cases!) for the operation.

Shocking isn't it? But what do you expect when the NHS is run by desk jockies rather than doctors and nurses! :eek:

[HLS]

In the UK we have something called a "National Insurance" card. Basically, a chunk of your pay slip goes to National Insurance, which covers a bunch of nationaly type things - including the National Health Service (NHS - similar to Canada's Medicare actually) ... a rather ineffecient, badly run, swamped in red tape quagmire of crap.

I'm relatively healthy *touches wood* so I've basically never been to the doc's all my life (bar once to get a stone taken out of my ear around 1990 and a trip - likewise to A&E - to get my arm looked at after taking a spill on the changing room floors in high school, though it was only sprained).

The NHS also helps out with things like a trip to the dentist. A private dentist can (and will) charge absolutely anything they please (a place in town I used to go to now charges £25 for a 5 minute check up). Now, a National Health dentist (which are few and far between these days, resorting to once-a-year check ups rather than bi-annual to cover the huge influx of patients thanks to practices turning private), is covered by the money pot from National Insurance. This means (at my NHS dentist) that the same 5 minute check up will only cost me £5 and add some standard x-rays to that mix and you're paying around £13. Not bad really, if you can find a good dentist that is.

If however you're rich and/or famous then you can afford to go private. Which is great. While you'll pay full whack for everything, you'll get a private room with TV, swish facilities and in many cases - the-f*cking-internet - you'll also be fast-tracked to your operation and dealt with professionally with the highest trained professionals. Under the NHS people will usually end up waiting more than 6 months (in the best possible instance) for an operation - this has often turned into 12 months or even up to around 3 years (or even more in rare cases!) for the operation.

Shocking isn't it? But what do you expect when the NHS is run by desk jockies rather than doctors and nurses! :eek:

Thanks