Healthcare in the US vs. the U.K

[hayz_baby]

Again I agree that altho the nhs had it flaws I am always grateful for it and that it is free at the point. I am glad we pay for it via NI an tax and I never worry what if if me, oh or lo needed it. I remember a thread on bc a while ago asking how much us ladies pay for their labour and I was amazed. Even with insurance in this country you pay the excess and that's it ( usually agreed previously) but u have that and more there. Plus the usual scary stories u hear. I just personally think healthcare is a right and not a privilege for the lucky/ well off.

One thing that has struck me.. (Only from tv might I add but shows like documentaries too) when women in the us go into labour it always seems to me that docs are very quick to intervene.. It seems that inductions and epidural a are more common practice and when a woman chooses to have a natural labour it's treated like its a big deal and the woman is a bit crazy... That if a woman goes to hospital with irregular contractions and is like 2 cm they will quite quickly give her a drip to speed things up. I guess u could call it a cost saving exercise here but it's a bit different.. For one hospitals in this country won't admit you till u are in established labour and a natural labour in this country isn't this weird crazy omg thing. MW are now encouraged to talk about homebirths more and recommend them to low risk mothers who may be suitable...
On the other hand out nhs is severely over stretched.. ER admissions are too high with too many people going unnescessarily and again people are too quick to see gps for rather minor matters.. Kinda half expecting the doc to prescribe them a magic tablet for their cold or something when realistically they should just self diagnose and self medicate

 

[Tiff]

I'm not in the UK or in the US. I don't know about how medical care even goes about in the rest of the country! But, that being said I do quite like OHIP.

Long wait times, yes. But its free. When Claire was a baby she had a high fever and we were panicked being new, inexperienced parents. I was grateful that I could just bring her to the hospital (yes, we were there for 10 hours from start to finish) but that was because she wasn't a high priority at the time.

I had both my kidneys fail in September 2007. Its horrifically painful, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. We have walk in clinics that you can go to if you don't feel that its urgent enough to go to the hospital. It was thanksgiving weekend (Canadian) and the room was PACKED. But even the receptionist could tell I wasn't well, they bumped me in front of everyone else who was waiting (proper triage) and I saw a doctor within 5 minutes.

I had been to the hospital two nights prior and they diagnosed me with a very severe bladder infection. When given my symptoms he told me I had to go to the hospital, ASAP. Even was going to call me an ambulance to get there although I was with my Mom and told him it was fine and she could drive me.

Got there, wasn't triaged as high priority at the time but as soon as I had blood work done and they saw my elevated creatine levels I was admitted right then and there. I was told if I had waited another day or two I might've died.

I spent 5 days in the hospital, and all I had to worry about was getting better. I couldn't imagine stressing while being so incredibly sick about bills and how I was going to pay for my treatment to LIVE.

I just don't personally understand how medical care can be potentially denied to someone or burdened with crazy bills which causes them to potentially not seek help. If I had lived somewhere that free healthcare didn't exist, I don't know that I'd be typing at my keyboard right now.

That being said, I don't like to slam other people's countries or practices, mainly because I don't understand them.

But, if I didn't have medical coverage and lived in say, the States... what would my bills have been like? I'm curious.

 

[kit10grl]

The NHS saved DD's life. She wouldve lived in the US most likely but we could not have afforded her care. From start to finish my pregnancy wouldve bankrupt us. We had ten scans in total, about a billion blood tests and an amnio. Then at birth we had a huge team of specialists present. She had a 4 day NICU stay in one hospital. Was life-flighted on a ventilator to another hospital where she spent another 4 days in Nicu before a series of 5 operations in total took place. she spent 18 days inPICU with round the clock 1:1 nursing. During that time i had this conversation with one of her nurses. She told me she didnt know how much everything cost but the pump one of DD's medicines was in cost £2000! not including the medicine. She had 6 attached to her at that point. She was transported between hospitals three more times. She now sees physio, occupational therapists, dietician, speech and language and is attending several specialist clinics. She is also about to take up a place in a development centre nursery where she will be attended to in a 1:1 setting twice a week.

I dread to think how much it would have cost. Parents of children with her condition i have spoken to are constantly fighting with insurance for things they need hearing aids, syringe kits, feeding kits, it astounds me that i just ask my liaison nurse and she brings what i need round the next day. The NHS isnt perfect as we have had long waits for some of our referrals however i would have to choose it over the US system every time.

We have just completed a fundraiser for the parents of a child in america who sadly passed away last week. In the week before he passed they went to extreme measures to save him and it makes me feel awful to think not only are the dealing with the loss of their 15 month old child but are also worrying about being in debt too. it must be so stressful

 

[tina3747]

I'm not in the UK or in the US. I don't know about how medical care even goes about in the rest of the country! But, that being said I do quite like OHIP.

Long wait times, yes. But its free. When Claire was a baby she had a high fever and we were panicked being new, inexperienced parents. I was grateful that I could just bring her to the hospital (yes, we were there for 10 hours from start to finish) but that was because she wasn't a high priority at the time.

I had both my kidneys fail in September 2007. Its horrifically painful, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. We have walk in clinics that you can go to if you don't feel that its urgent enough to go to the hospital. It was thanksgiving weekend (Canadian) and the room was PACKED. But even the receptionist could tell I wasn't well, they bumped me in front of everyone else who was waiting (proper triage) and I saw a doctor within 5 minutes.

I had been to the hospital two nights prior and they diagnosed me with a very severe bladder infection. When given my symptoms he told me I had to go to the hospital, ASAP. Even was going to call me an ambulance to get there although I was with my Mom and told him it was fine and she could drive me.

Got there, wasn't triaged as high priority at the time but as soon as I had blood work done and they saw my elevated creatine levels I was admitted right then and there. I was told if I had waited another day or two I might've died.

I spent 5 days in the hospital, and all I had to worry about was getting better. I couldn't imagine stressing while being so incredibly sick about bills and how I was going to pay for my treatment to LIVE.

I just don't personally understand how medical care can be potentially denied to someone or burdened with crazy bills which causes them to potentially not seek help. If I had lived somewhere that free healthcare didn't exist, I don't know that I'd be typing at my keyboard right now.

That being said, I don't like to slam other people's countries or practices, mainly because I don't understand them.

But, if I didn't have medical coverage and lived in say, the States... what would my bills have been like? I'm curious.

We have a similar system in the UK. We use our GP for normal appointments and we have a walk in centre for emergencies . Theres also the 'NHS direct ' , a dall centre to guide you to whatver step you need to take. im not sure how flawed this system is, kind of think its a wastenof time.
Our surgery has never made me wait till the next day with either of my kids for an appointment either which I'm grateful for!
Can you choose a surgery to go to or can you register anywhere? We can only use or local surgeries, usually within the area we live.

 

[Tiff]

I can go to any hospital in Ontario (my province). If its a specialist then I need a referral from my GP.

My city did a massive population growth, when I moved here it was only 90,000 people, in 5 years it became 130,000. Our services have struggled to keep up, so for GPs you need to use your specific GP.

However, anyone can go to any walk in clinic. GPs take turns with clinic rotations and some doctors specialize in just that.

Hope that answered your question!

 

[lhancock90]

I'm so proud of our NHS. I've had a lot of treatment over the last few years at the doctors and hospital. My whole family have and the care is just amazing.
I can't imagine having to worry about paying directly hundreds of pounds.

 

[alaskagrown]

My husband recently had to go to the emergency room because he got some hazardous liquid on his face from work. When he told me my heart dropped...sadly not because of him - but I was afraid we would have to pay for the ER visit! My daughter also recently got pink eye and I let it go for a week... each day struggling inside my head whether I should take her to the doctor or not because last time it was $330 just for them to tell us that it would clear up on its own

And yes, we pay for insurance too!

 

[deafgal]

We have to pay $200 copay for emergency room. That alone scares me because we don't use credit cards and we don't always have $200
readily available.

We avoid it like a plague

Then later, we get bills between $500- and above depending on the situation (my insurance does not cover 100% so it is bills after the insurance)

and top of that, my husband have pay $500 a month for insurance which probably not too bad.

Not to mention deductible. Money money money

 

[misspriss]

I wish we had something more like NHS instead of Obamacare. Obamacare is a sad band aid for a broken system IMO. It tries to make everyone get insurance, but the private insurance system is flawed.

I know everyone is afraid of a single-payer system here, but it would fix a lot.

 

[mammy2oaklen]

I think the NHS is amazing they saved my sons life. Also the care I recieved in pregnancy was amazing I feel although yes there were some small points I wasn't happy with over all I feel the first time round they saved my sons life and second time they stopped me going crazy. With worry after having a awful time of bleeding I received internal scans the same week I got instant blood tests and monitoring when felt things were wrong and the care during and after labour was great.

My ds2 is cows milk protein intolerant I get his milk in prescription completely free and as I love in wales all my prescriptions are free too

 

[overcomer79]

I am still paying a hospital bill from when ds was born over four years ago...I pay roughly 300 in medical bills (not including insurance premiums) a MONTH!! That's a large chunk. My husband and I are in disagreement. I would love a system like the NHS but he wants government to but out.

 

[misspriss]

I was able to pay the $2000 bill for DS in full, but it wiped out my savings and he is 9 months old and we still haven't been able to get any savings back.

I was lucky, I have 2 insurances and paid nothing for my care, or it would have been a $4,000 bill.

 

[mara16jade]

I continue to be in absolute awe at how much my fellow Americans are paying for things.

We pay $300 total for medical and dental a month. We have a $100.00 deducible each.... and that's it. I don't work for the government, and every employer I've had has had a very similar plan (or plans there are a few I could choose from).

And someone mentioned pink eye. I'd have to pay $25 for a co-pay to be seen and about $10 for the prescription. I know this because this just happened to my DH about 3-4 weeks ago. Even if I went to a Target optical center (or Walmart) the fee to be seen without insurance is like $50, and then $15 for the prescription.

I just don't understand where or how people are getting thousands of dollars in bills, $10k deductible plans, only 70% of their procedures covered, etc.

The only way I've seen this happen is if you go PPO vs HMO. Great example. My sister had a monsterous kidney stone that had to be lazer blasted a few years back. She unfortunately gets these a lot (no idea why she's prone to them). In the years past she had a HMO (100% covered the bills), then she got talked into getting a PPO so she could chose which doctor she could go to instead of like she had done with the HMO. Her bill with the PPO? $7,000.00. So in cases like THAT, ok...I feel that was a stupid idea for her to go with a PPO. But that is an example of some astronomical medical bill that someone could pay. She switched back to HMOs after that. lol

 

[Natsku]

I love the NHS, never had an issue with it while I was living in the UK and twice I've had to use it while on holiday there (without a European Health Insurance Card) and had no problem. The only waiting list problem I had was when I needed a gastroscopy and I was due to go to Finland the following month so they told me to just get it done there as I wouldn't get an appointment within the month which isn't so bad as it wasn't something urgent.

 

[hayz_baby]

One thing to remember as well as it isnt government who decides how the nhs is funded.. But actually done on a local level.. I think the name has recently changed but primary care trusts or pcts decide how doctors and hospitals are budgeted etc.. and done locally too.. Based on area and county. This is where u also can get what's known as "postcode lottery" tho which can b a bad thing..

 

[alaskagrown]

I continue to be in absolute awe at how much my fellow Americans are paying for things.

We pay $300 total for medical and dental a month. We have a $100.00 deducible each.... and that's it. I don't work for the government, and every employer I've had has had a very similar plan (or plans there are a few I could choose from).

And someone mentioned pink eye. I'd have to pay $25 for a co-pay to be seen and about $10 for the prescription. I know this because this just happened to my DH about 3-4 weeks ago. Even if I went to a Target optical center (or Walmart) the fee to be seen without insurance is like $50, and then $15 for the prescription.

I just don't understand where or how people are getting thousands of dollars in bills, $10k deductible plans, only 70% of their procedures covered, etc.

The only way I've seen this happen is if you go PPO vs HMO. Great example. My sister had a monsterous kidney stone that had to be lazer blasted a few years back. She unfortunately gets these a lot (no idea why she's prone to them). In the years past she had a HMO (100% covered the bills), then she got talked into getting a PPO so she could chose which doctor she could go to instead of like she had done with the HMO. Her bill with the PPO? $7,000.00. So in cases like THAT, ok...I feel that was a stupid idea for her to go with a PPO. But that is an example of some astronomical medical bill that someone could pay. She switched back to HMOs after that. lol

The reason is your employer pays an astronomical amount for the other part of your insurance

 

[mara16jade]

^^But this has been the case for every employer I've had since I was 21 y.o. (and I'm 30 now). And my parents were the same way (my mom was a teacher and my dad works for the government now). I'm floored how I can have such "small" costs and it seems like everyone else is paying out the wazoo. I've never heard of this, even with all my friends.

 

[Tasha]

I love the nhs, it has saved my life a couple of time (severe anaemia where I was in resus due to they thought it was an internal bleed, pre-eclampsia etc), my sons (meningitis) and I can't imagine having to pay that at the point of service.

However there are massive flaws that mean something needs to be done. In 2010 my aunt was in intensive care, she was extremely poorly and eventually died. She should of had one on one care but it wasn't possible due to short staffing, this meant her basic are needs weren't met. My mum had to wash her but as we live quite far we could only go 2-3 times a week, she wasn't washed between those times. She wasn't moved regularly and got bed sores. She was intubated and this gives you a dry mouth, you get little sponges that are moist just to wet the mouth for comfort, no one ever did that aside from us. Basically her last days weren't as comfortable as they could of been because of lack of funding.

My daughters both died from medical negligence possibly both due to costs. Honey was stillborn at 36+6 in may 2007 after her waters went at 28+6, so eight weeks she was left without waters. After researching I know this wouldn't of happened in the US and I do think that is, to some point down to costs.

My other daughter who was stillborn at 24+3 in April 2011 was very clearly lost because of cost cutting. I was taken off medication that thins my blood at 16 weeks due to 'new research', almost immediately she become growth restricted and my placenta very clotted. After she died a doctor from that hospital and another said there was no research and the one at the other went as far s saving my meds cost a lot. So a cost saving exercise cost me my daughters life, and could of cost me mine (lack of meds meant I got a dvt).

I can't imagine having to pay huge bills but at the same time to lose two children the way I did, I can't help but ask am I extremely unlucky or does this happen more than we think?

Don't get me wrong I, as mentioned before, love the nhs and cannot imagine life without it. My mum is a nurse so I see the hcp who put their heart, sole, sweat, blood and tears into the place but it means I see on a day to day basis the stress she is under, the lack of staffing, the funding issues, lack of equipment and so on.

I don't know what the answer is but I do know that I shouldn't think if I was in the us then my babies would probably be alive. I also know things can't stay the way they are.

 

[deafgal]

I just don't understand where or how people are getting thousands of dollars in bills, $10k deductible plans, only 70% of their procedures covered, etc.

The only way I've seen this happen is if you go PPO vs HMO. Great example. My sister had a monsterous kidney stone that had to be lazer lasted a few years back. She unfortunately gets these a lot (no idea why she's prone to them). In the years past she had a HMO (100% covered the bills), then she got talked into getting a PPO so she could chose which doctor she could go to instead of like she had done with the HMO. Her bill with the PPO? $7,000.00. So in cases like THAT, ok...I feel that was a stupid idea for her to go with a PPO. But that is an example of some astronomical medical bill that someone could pay. She switched back to HMOs after that. lol

If your employer give you that option. My husband's did not. (I am not sure, but my husband's have point of service plan. Edited: asked husband and he told me they only offer PPO and nothing else. I told him if they offer HMO, take it but he wrote that they don't)They wanted to save money. Companies can do whatever want.

 

[mara16jade]

Wrong thread.

ETA: Tasha, I'm so sorry to hear your story. I can't even begin to imagine what you and your family have gone through. Omg.