Private cost of health treatment in the UK

[oggbashan]

Most people know that health care in the UK is 'free at the point of use' in the UK. That does NOT mean it is free. It is paid for by taxation.

But you can also have private treatment either by health insurance or by paying yourself when you need it.

I have insurance that will provide treatment IF there is a significant delay on the NHS. I have used that for a consultant's opinion when the NHS consultant had a six-month waiting list. I was seen within ten days on a day of my choice.

But what if I had wanted a CT Scan and there was an NHS delay?

The private cost (which would be covered by my insurance with no co-pay) would be between £400 and £900. The higher figure would be in London. Locally about £500.

If I was a foreigner with no travel health insurance and had an NHS CT scan?


The NHS charge would be lower than that.

How does that compare with the costs in the US for an insurance claim?

 

[FescueFan]

How does that compare with the costs in the US for an insurance claim?

Depends on the insurance.

 

[WillJ8787]

The National average cost is $3,250.00

This is the cost regardless of insurance.

The price one pays varies depending on Insurance or not and location.

 

[ishtat]

In theory in the UK "dental treatment is free but in practice not so much." Is this statement correct?

 

[oggbashan]

In theory in the UK "dental treatment is free but in practice not so much." Is this statement correct?

No. It is not free unless you are on specified benefits. Yes. NHS dentists have to charge a set of fees ordered by the NHS. But many dentists will not join the NHS because of the byzantine paperwork and the necessity for getting written approval before some procedures.

In many towns, finding a dentist that will take NHS patients is difficult.

 

[SalviaDivinorum]

No. It is not free unless you are on specified benefits. Yes. NHS dentists have to charge a set of fees ordered by the NHS. But many dentists will not join the NHS because of the byzantine paperwork and the necessity for getting written approval before some procedures.

In many towns, finding a dentist that will take NHS patients is difficult.

It's also free for pregnant women (and for the first year after pregnancy) and for children under 16.

 

[TheWhiteBull]

So one of the reasons I always argue against a “free” healthcare system here in the US is competency. We actually have free healthcare in certain cases. If you make little enough money there are free clinics you can go to. If you are a tribal citizen there is an Indian Health Service available. If you are a service member in the military you have healthcare provided.

I have utilized all of these services in my life, and all of them were terrible. I didn’t see a doctor at a regular hospital, using insurance until I was in my late 20s and the difference in quality made me question why I had never bothered paying up for insurance in the first place. In effect, I don’t believe America is capable of running a single-payer system efficiently enough. They’ve had all the time in the world to fix issues in the VA and IHS yet they’re still the epitome of incompetence.

 

[butters]

So one of the reasons I always argue against a “free” healthcare system here in the US is competency. We actually have free healthcare in certain cases. If you make little enough money there are free clinics you can go to. If you are a tribal citizen there is an Indian Health Service available. If you are a service member in the military you have healthcare provided.

I have utilized all of these services in my life, and all of them were terrible. I didn’t see a doctor at a regular hospital, using insurance until I was in my late 20s and the difference in quality made me question why I had never bothered paying up for insurance in the first place. In effect, I don’t believe America is capable of running a single-payer system efficiently enough. They’ve had all the time in the world to fix issues in the VA and IHS yet they’re still the epitome of incompetence.

then again, if the bulk of the doctors were all in the 'free healthcare system', the overall quality of the medical treatment received by almost everyone would improve enormously. when the 'free' system's in competition with the private system (which, generally speaking, will lure many away due to better wages), there's a syphoning off of talent and numbers. pay equalities across the board, do away with private healthcare except for elective surgery (cosmetic), and the care available across the board will be improved.

it's the push for people in the uk to get private insurance, in a 'if you're sick you can jump the queue/get better doctors' scare-tactic, that has been so detrimental to the concept of the national health service as it was originally set up. and the private health sector in america uses that same tactic as a crow-bar to beat people over the head with to make sure they get their cash.

 

[FescueFan]

then again, if the bulk of the doctors were all in the 'free healthcare system', the overall quality of the medical treatment received by almost everyone would improve enormously.

And how do you plan on forcing all the good doc's and nurses into the "Shit paying HC system" they want no part of??

Hmmm comrade???

Wouldn't involve any.....FORCE....or elimination of individual liberty would it comrade???

do away with private healthcare except for elective surgery (cosmetic), and the care available across the board will be improved.
https://media1.tenor.com/images/27f24a2ea80576c84aa7c3008f55a6d4/tenor.gif?itemid=16196191

And there it is comrades, Butters the fuckin' communist has all the answers, communism is an improvement, it's PROGRESS!!!!

Imagine that.

https://media1.tenor.com/images/46eb62297ccfdc5357146f8d4db8d521/tenor.gif?itemid=14497492

The funny part is, they don't see what's so un-American about that totalitarian god state shit canning their civil rights, arbitrarily eliminating your individual freedom of association, freedom of commerce, is in any way shape or form un-American.

They either haven't got the slightest fucking clue what the USA is or what they are advocating (useful idiots) or they are enemies of the USA. There is not a whole lot of middle ground in the matter.

 

[Emerson40]

So one of the reasons I always argue against a “free” healthcare system here in the US is competency. We actually have free healthcare in certain cases. If you make little enough money there are free clinics you can go to. If you are a tribal citizen there is an Indian Health Service available. If you are a service member in the military you have healthcare provided.

I have utilized all of these services in my life, and all of them were terrible. I didn’t see a doctor at a regular hospital, using insurance until I was in my late 20s and the difference in quality made me question why I had never bothered paying up for insurance in the first place. In effect, I don’t believe America is capable of running a single-payer system efficiently enough. They’ve had all the time in the world to fix issues in the VA and IHS yet they’re still the epitome of incompetence.

Money, money, money. As long as big pharma, insurance companies, and healthcare providers are focusing on profits over health and medicine, it will never get better.

 

[Sean]

So one of the reasons I always argue against a “free” healthcare system here in the US is competency. We actually have free healthcare in certain cases. If you make little enough money there are free clinics you can go to. If you are a tribal citizen there is an Indian Health Service available. If you are a service member in the military you have healthcare provided.

I have utilized all of these services in my life, and all of them were terrible. I didn’t see a doctor at a regular hospital, using insurance until I was in my late 20s and the difference in quality made me question why I had never bothered paying up for insurance in the first place. In effect, I don’t believe America is capable of running a single-payer system efficiently enough. They’ve had all the time in the world to fix issues in the VA and IHS yet they’re still the epitome of incompetence.

The VA is the most efficient health care provider in the US. By a long way.

 

[WillJ8787]

then again, if the bulk of the doctors were all in the 'free healthcare system', the overall quality of the medical treatment received by almost everyone would improve enormously. when the 'free' system's in competition with the private system (which, generally speaking, will lure many away due to better wages), there's a syphoning off of talent and numbers. pay equalities across the board, do away with private healthcare except for elective surgery (cosmetic), and the care available across the board will be improved.

it's the push for people in the uk to get private insurance, in a 'if you're sick you can jump the queue/get better doctors' scare-tactic, that has been so detrimental to the concept of the national health service as it was originally set up. and the private health sector in america uses that same tactic as a crow-bar to beat people over the head with to make sure they get their cash.

Yes, this is very true. I've known, been personal friends with quite a few doctors, both here in the US and abroad. It is true the pay for doctors is lower in single payer National health care systems and they have one gigantic advantage.

Doctors in single payer system actually have decent, low stress lives unlike the private system here in the US. I have meet more than a few doctors here(USA) who are very envious of their European and Scandinavian counterparts inspite of have more money in the bank. Quality of life is an important factor for them and a lot of folks who see social democracies and all their various aspects as appealing.

I'm all for it, a single payer system...it will bring costs down dramatically and doctors get more time to do medicine than paperwork and can go home to their families like normal working folks.

 

[Paul_Chance]

Just out of curiosity I checked with my provider (Aetna). They cover about twenty different kinds of CT scans ranging in price from $300 to $12,000.

Ogg - what kind of CT scan was it you were comparing to?

My insurance has an low dollar deductible, so my out of pocket expenses (all inclusive) are capped at $800.00, all inclusive.

 

[oggbashan]

Just out of curiosity I checked with my provider (Aetna). They cover about twenty different kinds of CT scans ranging in price from $300 to $12,000.

Ogg - what kind of CT scan was it you were comparing to?

My insurance has an low dollar deductible, so my out of pocket expenses (all inclusive) are capped at $800.00, all inclusive.

Basic all-chest and abdomen.

My insurance has NO co-pay. If I claim - they pay in full and charge me nothing except my membership fee of £10 a month.

 

[jomar]

Just out of curiosity I checked with my provider (Aetna). They cover about twenty different kinds of CT scans ranging in price from $300 to $12,000.

Ogg - what kind of CT scan was it you were comparing to?

My insurance has an low dollar deductible, so my out of pocket expenses (all inclusive) are capped at $800.00, all inclusive.

Yes, depends on the referral question.