NHS USA

[Howard]

How do people feel about the UK's NHS being used as an argument in the USA's current debate about the structure of its healthcare being changed?

(Actually, that's two questions!)

[Jewel]

I'll keep it short, since I don't even live in the US anymore...from what I understand, there is no real chance that the US will actually change (or try to change to) an NHS type of service, so I think it's bad news that the American media and health insurance lobby (I assume they might be the biggies behind it) are trying to compare apples to oranges.  The horror stories aren't very nice, although I'm sure there are a number of horror stories about the American system (I know there is at least one...) out there.

[Windsong]

The people in the US are being hoodwinked by big insurance companies, drug companies and probably some doctors who are afraid they won't be able to live the millionaire lifestyle they have become use to.  The is a very large group of doctors and health workers that have been fighting for about 15 years for a universal healthcare system.  If people would stop looking for the bad stuff in the NHS and look at the good for a change they might see that it is not such a bad system. 

People need to quit listening to the scare mongers and take a look at things for themselves.  As Jewel says, there is good and bad in every system and if you just go looking for the bad, that is all you will find!

I don't live in the US anymore either, but my kids do and my sisters and their families along with my cousins and what few aunts and uncles are left and I am horrified that allot of them cannot afford basic health care.  I'm scared to death for them! 

[Lotus Freak]

it's just a shame that the media is covering the bad side of NHS. Maybe if people stopped and started thinking for themselves and looked not only at the UK system but the Canadian one as well they'll se all sorts of good examples of what the NHS can do and is capable of. It's scary to see the cost for medical treatment in the US, which I know all to well because I worked in a hospital as well as seeing the cost of my mother's cancer treatments. It's just plain shocking that they would put such a high price tag on something as basic like healthcare.