How does the UK and France afford universal health care?!

How does the UK and France afford universal health care?

its great that they offer it but whose footing the bill for all the services, equipment, surgeries, doctors salaries, etc etc?

2 weeks ago
i want to know EXACT tax percentages. i already knew it was taxes

This is how it works; the employee pays between 9 and 11% of their income on something called National Insurance but there is a cap so loaded people never pay more than about $500 a month. NI is not just for health, it pays unemployment benefits, state pension and a thing called income support. Income support is what you get if you fall on really hard times, it pays your rent and an allowance which is about the same as unemployment benefit. The employer also pays 11%.

The key thing about the British NHS is that it is FREE at the point of service. This means no matter who you are or where you come from we will never turn you away.

If you are a foreign national and you need something like Dialysis we will give it but ask for your Hospital in your own country. We have cross charge agreements in most countries.

The UK system is held back by waiting lists and many procedures are deemed as not needed. e.g. You might wait 2 years for obesity surgery, you would have to have a BMI of 50+ and have a record of trying diets.

However they are doing some treatments on the NHS that people object to like IVF and even sex changes. This is all governed by NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence):

http://www.nice.org.uk/

Family Doctors in the UK are called GP's, they are overloaded and will see you for about 3 minutes. During this time they will diagnose you, prescribe the cheapest medicines (not the best) and they will look up the rules for referring you to a consultant for whatever is required. Most of the time they operate a policy of "do nothing and see what happens".

There are no Private GP's but there is private healthcare for those who can afford it. They are like HMO's and very tight on your history and only treating very specific procedures. Any complications and they ship you off to an NHS hospital.

If you want to know more about the UK system visit http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/index.htm...

The French system is much better, again it is funded by employee and employer taxation. The difference is investment. You get 1st class treatment and it is immediate. You get the latest drugs and can get an x-ray and see a consultant same day and book your surgery.