Doctor's appointments

[Gemini]

Lizzie, that sounds a very good set up.

[Lizzie48]

By the way, we pay our own insurance!

[Daisy]

Lizzie - therein lies the difference, although we pay for our NHS through National Insurance and taxes. What happens to people who can't or don't have insurance?

Nana - I hope your appointment went well yesterday. It was good you were seen so quickly.

[Lizzie48]

The service was the same before we had the insurance, as you say, you pay for the NHS in the long run. You have to be insured to get help, from the age of 18 I think we have to pay. If you don't pay and you need help it is a very difficult procedure.

[Daisy]

With all its faults I'm glad we've got our NHS and if serious illness strikes you don't have to worry about needing treatment in excess of your insurance cover.

We had friends who spent 6 months here and 6 months in Florida - they had homes in both places. Sadly S was diagnosed with a brain tumour while in the States and her doctor very frankly advised her OH to get her back to the UK immediately as their insurance wouldn't have covered treatment she might have needed.

[Sunshine]

I will be eternally grateful for the NHS. Without it, I cannot imagine how my immediate family would have managed. With two cases of cancer, a heart condition, motor neurone disease and a double lung transplant. Even with insurance, I am sure the funds would have run dry a long time ago. The NHS is a victim of its own success. There are so many amazing medical advances being made, but they all cost money.

[Nana]

That's so true Sunshine. I often wish that there could be stricter rules & enforcement to get back what is owed from people (not your relatives) who 'use' our NHS as a freebie. I saw a documentary last yr about this. It featured one woman who used the hospital like a hotel & left owing thousands. She wasn't the only one.

I always wonder too why people with more money than they know what to do with, keep it all. E.g.. footballers' transfer fees & wages. They could easily afford to give half to Cancer research for example & still live a luxurious life.

[Lizzie48]

Daisy, we can't compare our insurance to the one in America, there are 2 here to choose from, the cheaper one doesn't cover everything but the second one covers every treatment, no matter how long for or what the costs are. I was at the hospital yesterday for my bladder treatment, twice a year, no bother at all. I have just got home from my Manual Lymph Drainage, have had that almost every week for more than 25 years. I am not putting the NHS down, was used to it growing up.

[Daisy]

Lizzie - it sounds a very good system, and I'm glad you have access to care whenever you need it.

The American one fills me with horror - the poorer you are the less access you have to good health care, and that sounds fundamentally wrong to me.

Nana - an interesting point about people with huge amounts of money. I think I would feel guilty if I had that much - but then it raises questions about how much is too much.