US & UK Health Insurance

There are many differences in the provision between the US and the UK. One of the main differences is the balance of provision between private and state-funded health care. The US is now looking around the world to find ways in which to improve the access of its poorest people to health care.

Even though the United States spends more per capita on health care than any other country there are many complaints that the poorest people are not receiving adequate care. Funds for private health insurance are provided by the Government, employers and private medical insurance but for country relies totally on private health insurance 15% of the population do not have it.

In the UK only 12% of people have private health insurance and the NHS treats all its citizens free at the point of care.

The main practical differences between the two countries are that people complain of non-existent or bad provision for those with very low income in the US whereas in the UK all people have equal access to excellent services.

Critics of the proposed Obama healthcare reforms have slammed the NHS, saying that it is no better than the US system but in America some sections of society do not go to the doctor if they are ill as they will not be able to pay for expensive medical bills and this is never an issue in the UK.

The second difference is that there is a lot less private medical insurance here in the UK. There are always fluctuations in the market depending on the state of the economy and the public perception of the NHS.

Recent changes mean that in the UK private and NHS medical provision are blending in a way that was not previously the case. The NHS uses private services and hospitals for some of its workload because they find it more cost effective and people who have NHS treatment are able to 'top-up' with private healthcare under some circumstances.

Some people are opposed to this merging of services and fear that we are moving towards the US model which discriminates against its more vulnerable citizens.

In the meantime the US looks for a better model. The Obama critics look to the UK and warn that we have a poor system of healthcare. What we know is that we have an NHS, which may not be perfect, which works well for all its citizens most of the time and a private health insurance sector which provides a good alternative.