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U.K. hospitals are overburdened. But the British love their universal health care
March 7, 2018
When Erich McElroy takes the stage at comedy clubs in London, his routine includes a joke about the first time he went to see a doctor in Britain.
Originally from Seattle, McElroy, 45, has lived in London for almost 20 years. A stand-up comedian, he's made a career out of poking fun at the differences in the ways Americans versus Britons see the world - and one of the biggest differences is their outlook on health care.
"| saw a doctor, who gave me a couple pills and sent me on my way. But | still hadn't really done any paperwork. | was like, 'This isn't right! " McElroy says onstage, to giggles from the crowd. "So | went back to the same woman, and | said, 'What do | do now?! And she said, You go home! "
The mostly British audience erupts into laughter.
McElroy acknowledges it doesn't sound like much of a joke. He's just recounting his first experience at a UK. public hospital. But Britons find it hilarious, he says, that an American would be searching for a cash register, trying to find how to pay for treatment at a doctor's office or hospital. Itis a foreign concept here, McElroy explains.
Onstage, McElroy recounts how, when the hospital receptionist instructed him to go home, he turned to her and exclaimed, "This is amazing!"
Amazing, he says, because he did not have to pay - at least not at the point of service. In Britain, there is a state-funded system called the National Health Service, or NHS, which guarantees care for all. That means everything from ambulance rides and emergency room visits to long hospital stays, complex surgery, radiation and chemotherapy - are all free. They are paid for with payroll taxes. In addition, any medication you get during a hospital visit is free, and the cost of most prescription drugs at a pharmacy are cheap - a few dollars. (Private health care also exists in the U.K., paid out-of-pocket or through private insurance coverage, but only a small minority of residents opt for it.)
Since the 2008 financial crisis, the U.K., like many countries, has been taking in less tax revenue - so it has had to cut spending. Its expenditure on the National Health Service has still grown, but at a slower pace than before. [...] Wait times at the emergency room are up, says Richard Murray, policy director at the King's Fund, a health care think tank.
"If the ER is really busy, it makes the ambulances queue outside the front door - not great," Murray says. "And in some cases, the hospital is simply full."
(Adapted from https://www.npr.org)