[knz]

I'm not sure what the UK is like but New Zealand has a public system and, to be clear to American readers who only hear negatives about wait times, you generally are not waiting if you have a life threatening issue. The wait time if for issues like joint replacements and varies depending upon your need and the availability of medical staff etc.

A suspect a few people are going to read "weeks, even months before they would have otherwise - that's important if you have a painful or debilitating condition. " and assume that is a given for a public system. You often have to wait for non urgent issues in the US as well if you want a specific doctor or clinic.

[vidarh]

In the UK most of the private insurance is "top up" type insurance where you go to an NHS GP first, but then can ask to get referred privately if your condition isn't serious enough to get you seen by a specialist "quick enough". So you are paying mainly for extra convenience and speed over what is medically necessary, which also makes these insurances cheap, since with most of them you'll use the NHS for anything urgent.