It's the same here, e.g. with THE BIG private health provider, BUPA. That's the big difference, like you say, between that and an NHS: the NHS don't turn you away because you had the same illness when you were a kid.

Sometimes it becomes ridiculous. A few years ago, when I started on the private health ins. provided by my employer, I had to fill out a form with any illnesses I'd had in the past year. I wrote Upper Respiratory Tract Viral Infection (a bummer to get, btw) - URTVI. There had been no treatment - I'd just sat it out. A few weeks later I got a letter back from the provider that I was covered for all conditions but, you guessed it, URTVI. Wooooh, I'm glad I hadn't stubbed my big toe in that time!

>One of the biggest problems with our system here in the states is obtaining insurance for pre-existing conditions. Pre-existing conditions are a MAJOR problem. In the European model of socialized medicine, that is not an issue.

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