England's hosptals not doing well at all

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Hospitals in England are on the brink of collapse, warn NHS chiefs

It is a system the worked for half a century or so, but it needs to be modernised and we need to be more realistic.

Dental health and eye care, there has has been pay on delivery with exceptions. Some pay on delivery isn't going to hurt the health service.

It is all comparative though, there are far worse health systems.

Of course, it's never enough.

More money, more money, if we only had more money.

Notice too ... "waiting list of 3.9 Million people".

Worst case scenario is that we enter some kind of American nightmare, but I'm confident that it won't come to that.

That's every person in the country who is awaiting any form of medical treatment, it's not one giant line but actually a few hundred thousand short ones. Of those, 91.3% will be seen within the 18 week window, a massive 0.7% down on the target. Amazing what you learn when you read articles instead of headlines!

US Healthcare is very expensive. It is massively inflated. Probably only China is comparable. My sister is an insurance broker/account exec. There is no such thing as fully comp. insurance. Anyone can lose out after contributing all their life.

In that respect NHS, has been much better value for money whether ideologically you like the idea or not. Given people can opt for private healthcare, but many still do not bother when the can afford it. Or they go for minimal supplementary, which they end up not using it.

I am able to get same day appointments if needed, or week appointments to see the GP after work hours no problem. These practices are run as private partnerships.

When the US privatises their water supply and national mail service like the UK, I might take them seriously on competition. The health Insurance market in the US, is not at all competitive. Part of the reason for health services form is for that reason, and also the link between health and productivity.

I would optionally pay more NI for a better service.

As self employed I used to be able to defer it, not sure about now. It is smart not to.

The US system is setup for wealthier people.

The gov. run systems are setup for poor people.

-Wealthy people expect immediate service, not the months they sit on waiting lists in the UK or Canada waiting for specialized services (e.g., knee surgery).

-Wealthy people expect the world's best and brightest doctors. The US is said to "brain drain" the world of the best doctors, because they can earn substantially more in the US. Likely, many NHS doctors flee to the US, to earn substantially higher pay.

-Wealthy people expect all the modern advancements. That means a lot of expenses in research and technology. Likely, the UK and Canada piggy-back off the research of Americans companies (e.g., pharmaceutical research).

The poor probably fare much better off the UK and Canadian system. However, right now, there are too many wealthy Americans.

You mean ill-advisedly and badly?

Anyway.

The problems with the NHS seem to largely stem from government meddling trying to introduce the latest managerial/'competition'/'efficiency savings' fad, and that it doesn't have the funding to match what it's being asked to do. Any problem that (inevitably) arises from this can then be pointed to as 'see, publicly funded health care doesn't work'.

What makes you think there are more wealthy Americans?

http://fortune.com/2015/09/30/america-w ... d=leftrail

I'm actually a competitionist largely speaking. However it is interesting when people think they to know more about the systems in other countries than their citizens do.

Royal mail certainly isn't competing all that well in many of the parcel and many mail markets, there are many better alternatives. I see not reason why it should have remained public, it was not offering much that cannot be offered by other companies. It is purely a nostalgia to keep it. It became quite expensive for businesses, and the services weren't all that great, based on alternative.

There is generally something for everyone in this market, and no shortage of competition. From dirt cheap wing an a prayer, to highly specialist delivery.

Water is more debatable, as there is not really competition even after privitisation.

The US ranks #1 in both the average household net adjusted disposable income per capita and the average household net financial wealth per capita.

"the average household net adjusted disposable income per capita is USD 41 071"
" the average household net financial wealth per capita is estimated at USD 163 268"

The UK ranks #17 in average household net adjusted disposable income per capita.
The UK ranks #25 (near the bottom) in average household net financial wealth per capita.

http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/income/

**Note: next year the UK will fall substantially in these rankings because of the massive loss in wealth caused by the drop in the pound this year.