NHS and US Medical insurance quest…anyone know?…?
Right it been bugging me for years this one! Do we in the UK pay for our medical with the NHS through paying National Insurance Because, how do the self employed pay because a lot of them don’t pay NI. Plus how do the people in the US pay for medical do they pay private companies or what?
Also I recently gave birth here in the UK and was wondering If had given birth in th US how much would it have cost me, say if I had no medical insurance?
September 13th, 2010 at 6:28 am
the NHS is free to all british citizens
it is funded out of tax-payers money
and prescriptions
IF you don’t pay taxes etc. you still get health care free on the NHS
prescriptions are subsidised but there are exemptions to include:
being under 16
being over 60
being 16.17 or 18 and in full time education
medical exemption
having or being named on an NHS tax-exemption certificate
(there are more)
I think in the US they have medical insurance with companies and if they have none they have to pay
September 13th, 2010 at 7:19 am
The health service is funded from general taxation…National Insurance goes towards your pension…for what its worth….The self employed do pay National Insurance but at a different rate. I’m not sure about US although most health cover is through private medical insurance, usually provided by the employer..some 47 million Americans do not have insurance. There are public hospitals, but generally I believe they are of poorer quality and only for emergency treatment. Prescriptions and longer term treatments are hard to come by without insurance. although an American would have to answer about childbirth…but with so many not insured in US it must be free somewhere.
November 8th, 2010 at 3:17 am
Giving birth in the US without health insurance can range from $10,000 USD for a natural birth without complications to well over $1,000,000 if say, a surgery (C-section) and NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) were needed. Hospitals charge anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars per day that you or the baby remain in the hospital, so if your baby is preemie and needs to stay for en extended period of time, it can cost more than a million dollars. I had an emergency surgery (I was at the hospital for around 15 hours including pre-testing, surgery and recovery) and even with their 10% “uninsured patient discount” I owe over $22,000. A single visit to an emergency room runs at least a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. A single, 15 sec CT-scan (it’s similar to an x-ray) costs about $1200. It uses no resources, except paper and ink to print the result, and a machine that is used for a 15 sec period of time. And it costs you, the consumer, $1200. People who work for larger companies, say 50 employees or more, get better insurance for lesser pay. This is because their company gets a “group discount.” For those of us who work in the dental field, say Dental Assistant or Dental Hygienist, we usually work for private practices (since the government does not provide citizens with dental care, there are no large government dental providers, except for prisons and jails). Mind you, if you are a convicted felon serving a sentence, you have access to completely free dental and medical care, even though you do not pay taxes in jail, nor have to pay for your shelter, clothing or meals. Yes, this country is ass-backwards. Anyhow, most dental professionals, for example, work for private practices for the reasons stated above, so we either do not have employer-based health insurance available, have insurance available but must pay much higher for the plan due to the lower number of employees on that specific group plan, or possibly you are lucky and your employer will pay the entire premium for you, but that is HIGHLY unlikely. It is very unfortunate that our citizens trust the corrupt officials in our government who care only about themselves and not the taxpayers who make their pockets fatter. Our country is a sham, an illusion, and a complete embarrassment. At least some government officials see this as an actual problem, but the republicans are promising to demolish any ideas or plans of health care reform, just so that they can make the rich richer, and the rest of us pay for it. I am amazed that you all in the UK pay the same amount of taxes as we do here, between Federal and State taxation. But you all receive something back for your contributions, and we do not. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of justice,” should have just said “liberty and the pursuit..” since our “life” (our health, which is the most important part of our lives) is of no concern to the elitist group to whom we pay taxes to. So sad. I am moving to the UK soon, and I can’t wait. Corruption no more!