Guardian UK: In the US, my credit card saved my life

[marmar]

In the US, my credit card saved my life
The relationship between doctors and their patients is different in Britain thanks to the NHS – and no one is afraid of getting ill


Mitch Glickstein
guardian.co.uk, Friday 14 August 2009


There are difficulties with the British health service, but perhaps the most important fact is that no one I know here is afraid to be sick.

For the past 20 years or so my family and I have been patients of Dr Azhar Malik at the Caversham Group Practice in Kentish town, London. A sympathetic man, he has looked after us carefully. When my wife was dying of cancer, he would stop by with medicines or prescriptions on his way home. British doctors will still make house calls when appropriate.

Visits to the GP are short, but most know when a problem should be investigated further. There is, throughout the country, a system of referrals to hospitals. Most consultants and junior doctors are well trained and carefully selected. In my own case, Dr Malik sent me first to a cardiac consultant when I became breathless. Because of anaemia, they in turn referred me to gastrointestinal surgeons, who located, operated and cured a colon cancer some nine years ago.

The relationship between doctors and their patients at every level is different from that in the States; here money does not change hands. An American friend of mine with five children was terrified when he became unemployed, fearful that one of them might become ill. I became ill when I was briefly back in the US some years ago, attending a meeting. With an acute urinary obstruction, the first person I saw, and the only one who could admit me for treatment, was the woman in charge of payment. My credit card probably saved my life.

There may be delays, frustrations and bureaucracy with the NHS, but the system delivers outstanding healthcare at no cost to the patient and far less of the GDP that the US system consumes. Being over 60, all prescription drugs are free. Perhaps it is that absence of fear of becoming ill that is the most important aspect of the system. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/aug/14/nhs-healthcare-america-britain

[Laelth]

1. k&r for the TRUTH. We need single-payer NOW. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. Helpful hint: the UK system is not 'single-payer'.

[Laelth]

3. Indeed. The NHS is a public option for health care.

As opposed to public option insurance. In any event, I'll take it.

Thanks for the correction.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Mnemosyne]

4. KnR for greater visibility. n/t