Question for British: Are you getting your money's worth, healthcare-wise?

Here in the US, our democratic leaders are attempting to institute socialized medicine, based on the British model. This effort is being led by Hillary Clinto. Do you Brits have any advice? Are you getting what you are paying for, in taxes? Can you see a doctor within a couple hours if you happen to be sick? If you need an operation, who decides and how soon can you get it? How is the dental care, is it strictly for taking care of dental pain or does it allow cosmetic dental like most normal Americans have? What would we lose or gain by going to socialized medicine/universal health care?

Question for British: Are you getting your money's worth, healthcare-wise?
our health care system is in a complete mess. I have quite a good doctor so i can usually phone up in the morning and get an appointment in the afternoon but other people have to wait days maybe weeks to get an appointment. Anything we do have that the doctor prescribes we have to pay £6.95 for each item unless we receive benefits. Operations take months maybe years to come through and then there is the health risk that you might get a super bug called MRSA as they can't be bothered to clean the hospitals as the government have cut the funding to the National Health Service by that much that it is crippling the life out of our Health care system. But saying that the people who work for them are dedicated and loyal my Nan was clinically dead for 6 months with a blood clot and they fought long and hard to save her life and my grandfather was treated with happy and caring people when he was having treatment for throat cancer (5 years in remission). Its not all bad with the healthcare system but the government have a lot to answer for with the state that it is in.
Reply:Health Care in the UK is good and bad....if you want to see your GP it can be anytime 1day to a month i had to wait 3weeks for a quiet serious infection i went to hospital sent home and told to see my gp but i cant talk for everyone but i think its god and bad at different times and different things...
Reply:as much as i hate what this country has become i can see my doctor without an appointment if i just turn up at the surgery they usually fit you in.i went to the physio department 24 hours ago at local hospital for treatment and i got an appointment with a physiotherapist tomorrow.so not that bad really.hard to get nhs dentist though usually have to go private.
Reply:I've always been able to see doctors the moment I walk into surgeries or hospitals. Or waited no more than half an hour. But I live in a rural area... A lot of other people don't have such a good experience. But Labour have severely screwed up the NHS. It isn't a mess because it's a national health system... It's a mess because of Labour's ineptitude in running it. Every financial year all they do to resolve the issue is throw more money at it, and set impossible targets which break the backs of the local NHS Trusts... They've never bothered to actually look at the problem and devise solutions. :-\





And I certainly wouldn't opt for a private health system just because they screwed it up. It's all very well arguing whether infrastructure, natural resources and key industries should be nationalised, but IMO some things just shouldn't ever be privatised, like the healthcare system, the police, the military, the fire brigade, school system and the welfare state. I find the idea of private healthcare and having to insure your own health completely insane...
Reply:I too live in a rural area and we get to see the dr whenever we want to usually the same day we even have a dentist that has places ( wow) I met some people on holiday from wales and they were telling me that they had to wait 9 months to get a tumour seen to in his leg.....then they had to travel to england which was a 2.5 hour journey.


So it can be great or really dismall almost laughable.


Our goverment spends money in the wrong places unfortunatly.