I understood healthcare was funded from the general pool so where did you get the 12%? If you mean the National Insurance contribution, it covers pensions, unemployment benefits, Widows'/bereavement benefits and Maternity leave etc with the NHS only receiving anything left over. And it didn't reach 12% until 2011.

Yes, I meant National Insurance Contribution. I was not clear on how much of that actually went to the NHS, so thank you for clearing that up.

2 or 3 times? Figures say the UK pays 8.4% of GDP, way less than the US. But here's a question: was the "excruciating pain" from the UK excluded as a pre-existing condition under your cheap US policy? If not, that seems strange. Never mind, there are no pre-existing conditions now because of O-Satan. ;-)

Andy had a dislocated knee cap that was excruciatingly painful. If he had wanted to get the problem taken care of by the NHS, he would have been put on a waiting list and wait for approximately 2 years for his surgery. Since he had private health insurance, he was able to have his surgery much sooner. And this would not have been considered a pre-existing condition even if he had lived in the US at the time.

Andy and I have good private health insurance here in the states and we are, by no stretch of the imagination, rich.

LOL.

And what is so funny about that? Are you saying that Andy and I are rich? If so, that is absurd. If we were rich, don't you think that we would be retired by now? Both of us are still working 40 hours a week. QED.

Yes, this is true. Administration consumes up to 40% of a physician's working week and their record-keeping is oriented towards arcane payment rules and liability. The laying on of hands increasingly refers to a keyboard, not the patient. These distractions are regrettable.

I agree. Unfortunately, as both my PCP and chiropractor have informed me, this is a problem that has only gotten worse under the ACA.

Inescapable that the US pays more than everybody else despite leaving millions with no cover at all.

Physicians have called the ACA "Medicaid Plus". Because the reimbursement rates for Medicaid are so low, may physicians and hospitals will not accept patients on Medicaid. There are also many that are on the record as saying that they will not accept patients covered by the Obamacare exchanges. So, even if the ACA supposedly covers a bunch of people who were not covered before, these people are still not going to have access to a wide range of services.

I am not saying that our system doesn't need reforming - it does. Allowing insurance companies to sell insurance across state lines and tort reform are two things that actually would reduce the cost of health insurance. However, neither one of these things were addresses by the ACA. Figures - most politicians are attorneys...