[arethuza]

I get private healthcare in the UK through my job - the only time we have used it was when my teenage son got his tonsils out.

What was amusing was that at one point the anaesthetist came up and said there had been a mistake in the billing and I'd have to pay part of the bill directly. Having heard all the horror stories from the US I was thinking it was going to be a huge amount of money - he very apologetically gave me a bill for £12.00 (yes, twelve pounds) :-)

[NB Worth noting that although we do have private health care, anything serious that has happened to us over the last few years was fixed by the NHS].

[lilsunnybee]

You smug bastard. Joking, but i'm in the US and have had so many issues in my life with huge medical bills and debt collectors, denial of care, insurance refusing to pay because a doctor messed up the paperwork, insurance not covering certain medications, or saying the dosage needed to be changed, that i'm almost not. :-p

[arethuza]

Well, as anyone will tell you who lives in the UK, the NHS isn't perfect, but I personally happen to think that the model we have of a pretty good health care system for everyone and private health care for the tiny minority who want it seems to work fairly well.

Mind you the NHS is socialism... but perhaps telling that the founder of the NHS, Aneurin Bevan, called his book on the subject In Place of Fear - which sums it up really.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneurin_Bevan

NB I find illnesses and injuries in a family stressful enough to deal with as it is - adding bureaucracy and financial stresses would be a nightmare.