[nicoburns]

> We were able to pursue some things we probably wouldn't have otherwise. Simple things like having more cough syrup on hand became a no-brainer as cost of visit and prescription was guaranteed to be $0

This is one of the big upsides of always free at the point of access healthcare like we have in the UK. Although there is some inefficiency, in practice I beleive it actually lowers the total cost of healthcare as people seek treatment/diagnosis earlier and avoid getting as sick in the first place.

[vxNsr]

Someone recently pointed out here that in the UK you still have pox parties because the chickenpox vaccine is considered too expensive by NHS. So that's another way to lower costs, of course you now have a 20% possibility of getting shingles and dealing with that pain.

[arethuza]

Apparently its not about cost but from a fear (which may be unfounded) of increasing the frequency of shingles:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/occams-corner/2014/may/1...