> It is easy to paint the US healthcare experience as a capitalist dystopia, and the NHS as its socialist antithesis, but with each passing year this moves further from the truth. In 1990, out-of-pocket spending by Britons on medical expenses was equivalent to 1 per cent of GDP, while across the Atlantic, uninsured Americans forked out more than twice as much, at 2.2 per cent. Thirty years on, that gap has all but disappeared. Americans’ non-reimbursable spending now stands at 1.9 per cent, and Britons’ has doubled to 1.8 per cent.
How much is this per capita?
What the hell happened here?
But that will have always been the case, regardless of what those figures claim. Medical procedures aren’t cheaper in the UK, they’re just free. The ones that aren’t free will cost the same as in the US.
The stupid part of this article is that it’s complaining about the NHS and using people who CHOSE to seek private treatment for personal reasons.
The NHS isn’t perfect, and it doesn’t claim to be, but comparing it to the US healthcare system is just a disgusting and intentional stretching of the truth just to have something to rant about.
What are they even talking about here? I thought Brits didn’t pay anything out-of-pocket? Or are there things you do have to pay for?
Neoliberalism sure is funny some times…
**Full article:**
1
In recent years, there has been a growing fear among certain sections of the British public that our much loved and strictly publicly funded National Health Service is at risk of being privatised. The NHS will be secretly sold by the dastardly Tories to US corporations in a cut price deal, or so the theory goes.
While the methods described may be fictional, it is impossible not to conclude from the data that a broader shift is happening. British healthcare is quietly inching into the private sector, and what is most concerning is that it is increasingly those least able to pay who are being forced away from the NHS.
If I told you that in the US, with its notoriously expensive healthcare system, the number resorting to crowdfunding campaigns to pay exorbitant private medical expenses has risen 20-fold in the past five years, I’m sure you wouldn’t be surprised. But those statistics don’t refer to the US, they refer to the UK.
Hundreds of Britons have launched GoFundMe campaigns so far in 2022 to raise money for private medical expenses, frequently citing their desperation after spending months or even years on NHS waiting lists. One Northern Irish family felt compelled to get private treatment overseas for their 12-year-old son’s curved spine after being told they would have to wait years by the NHS. They eventually raised £50,000 and the treatment was carried out successfully in Turkey.
Other cases include people suffering from debilitating hereditary disorders, career-derailing injuries and various forms of cancer, and all of whom feel the NHS is unable to meet their needs.
It is easy to paint the US healthcare experience as a capitalist dystopia, and the NHS as its socialist antithesis, but with each passing year this moves further from the truth. In 1990, out-of-pocket spending by Britons on medical expenses was equivalent to 1 per cent of GDP, while across the Atlantic, uninsured Americans forked out more than twice as much, at 2.2 per cent. Thirty years on, that gap has all but disappeared. Americans’ non-reimbursable spending now stands at 1.9 per cent, and Britons’ has doubled to 1.8 per cent.
Universal healthcare is nice. But if you don’t want to wait a year so see specialist you have to pay anyway.
It’s weird how clear you can see the periods of Tory government.
Progress?
People grifting on gofundme =/= being forced to pay for treatment. Absolutely appalling analysis.
Guarantee this is including dental as well.
Dont worry. Our Democrats will send you all more of our hard earned labor every year so you can keep your doctors.
I’d be more interested to see what the median of out of pocket spending would be compared to each other
That’s the cheap part wait till you guys have to pay our premiums on top of that.
Its so finally good to hear the Bri’ish are taking care of their health 😇😇😇😇
As share of gdp. Not as amount.
Well, they are the 51st state, the institutions are just catching up to that.
17 comments
[Source FT](https://www.ft.com/content/dbf166ce-1ebb-4a67-980e-9860fd170ba2)
> It is easy to paint the US healthcare experience as a capitalist dystopia, and the NHS as its socialist antithesis, but with each passing year this moves further from the truth. In 1990, out-of-pocket spending by Britons on medical expenses was equivalent to 1 per cent of GDP, while across the Atlantic, uninsured Americans forked out more than twice as much, at 2.2 per cent. Thirty years on, that gap has all but disappeared. Americans’ non-reimbursable spending now stands at 1.9 per cent, and Britons’ has doubled to 1.8 per cent.
How much is this per capita?
What the hell happened here?
But that will have always been the case, regardless of what those figures claim. Medical procedures aren’t cheaper in the UK, they’re just free. The ones that aren’t free will cost the same as in the US.
The stupid part of this article is that it’s complaining about the NHS and using people who CHOSE to seek private treatment for personal reasons.
The NHS isn’t perfect, and it doesn’t claim to be, but comparing it to the US healthcare system is just a disgusting and intentional stretching of the truth just to have something to rant about.
What are they even talking about here? I thought Brits didn’t pay anything out-of-pocket? Or are there things you do have to pay for?
Neoliberalism sure is funny some times…
**Full article:**
1
In recent years, there has been a growing fear among certain sections of the British public that our much loved and strictly publicly funded National Health Service is at risk of being privatised. The NHS will be secretly sold by the dastardly Tories to US corporations in a cut price deal, or so the theory goes.
While the methods described may be fictional, it is impossible not to conclude from the data that a broader shift is happening. British healthcare is quietly inching into the private sector, and what is most concerning is that it is increasingly those least able to pay who are being forced away from the NHS.
If I told you that in the US, with its notoriously expensive healthcare system, the number resorting to crowdfunding campaigns to pay exorbitant private medical expenses has risen 20-fold in the past five years, I’m sure you wouldn’t be surprised. But those statistics don’t refer to the US, they refer to the UK.
Hundreds of Britons have launched GoFundMe campaigns so far in 2022 to raise money for private medical expenses, frequently citing their desperation after spending months or even years on NHS waiting lists. One Northern Irish family felt compelled to get private treatment overseas for their 12-year-old son’s curved spine after being told they would have to wait years by the NHS. They eventually raised £50,000 and the treatment was carried out successfully in Turkey.
Other cases include people suffering from debilitating hereditary disorders, career-derailing injuries and various forms of cancer, and all of whom feel the NHS is unable to meet their needs.
It is easy to paint the US healthcare experience as a capitalist dystopia, and the NHS as its socialist antithesis, but with each passing year this moves further from the truth. In 1990, out-of-pocket spending by Britons on medical expenses was equivalent to 1 per cent of GDP, while across the Atlantic, uninsured Americans forked out more than twice as much, at 2.2 per cent. Thirty years on, that gap has all but disappeared. Americans’ non-reimbursable spending now stands at 1.9 per cent, and Britons’ has doubled to 1.8 per cent.
Universal healthcare is nice. But if you don’t want to wait a year so see specialist you have to pay anyway.
It’s weird how clear you can see the periods of Tory government.
Progress?
People grifting on gofundme =/= being forced to pay for treatment. Absolutely appalling analysis.
Guarantee this is including dental as well.
Dont worry. Our Democrats will send you all more of our hard earned labor every year so you can keep your doctors.
I’d be more interested to see what the median of out of pocket spending would be compared to each other
That’s the cheap part wait till you guys have to pay our premiums on top of that.
Its so finally good to hear the Bri’ish are taking care of their health 😇😇😇😇
As share of gdp. Not as amount.
Well, they are the 51st state, the institutions are just catching up to that.