Without making any kind of political statement one way or the other, it seemed to me that reading firsthand information from people who experience various forms of healthcare insurance would be helpful for each of us when forming our opinions on what we like or don't like about the insurance we have or that which is being discussed and proposed by Congress. We've already had some discussions here about private insurance, VA insurance, the Public Health Service, and Medicare, and even the healthcare provided by our government to native Americans.

Following is an e-mail that was sent to me, copying a message that my friend received from a friend in England. It's pretty self-explanatory...
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Dear Bill,

You are welcome to forward my opinion on to friends in the U.S. if you like.

As you know, I am an American living in England for 10+ years. During my time in the U.K. I have become rather expert in the workings of the National Health Service here. The untold story in the United States is that this system works quite well! We have actually cancelled our top-up private health insurance. ("Top-up" insurance is readily available here and many people buy such policies to supplement the care provided by the NHS. It is similar to the "secondary" insurance policies that Americans with Medicare buy to lessen their co-pays or deductions and be more attractive patients to doctors who are hesitant to accept Medicare insurance alone. It's used in the U.K. to assure more expansive or quicker healthcare for conditions that are non-life threatening.)

As UK residents we are entitled to the nationalized healthcare offered in any EU country we visit as well as in England. This information does not seem to be commonly known in the US, but it is viewed as a tremendous advantage to Europeans who travel about the continent frequently.

My personal experience has included:

• Trips to the emergency room with young children (they are given triage priority)
• Regular immunizations (free)
• Visits to an internist with same day appointments when you call at 8:00 am
• All prescriptions for children are free
• All prescriptions for adults the cost is about $10.00, no matter what drug
• House calls! I had trouble with healing of an incision after foot surgery. It was the weekend so they sent a nurse to the house to assess me. The doctor would come out if needed.
• Pediatric surgery at a NHS hospital was on a ward (like the Madeleine books). However, my child was the only patient there. The nurses served me tea and cookies while I waited.
• Swine flu response: excellent. My husband had it. We were told not to come to the surgery (doctors office). We followed the online flow chart. He qualified for tamiflu and was given a code. I went to my nearest dispensing hospital with his ID and the code and was immediately given the medication at no charge.
• PAP smears for women are done every 3 years, annual mammograms start at age 50. The effectiveness of cancer screening and other preventive procedures has achieved results far better than the U.S. and many other countries, information that never seems to be published in the American periodicals we read.
• We have a National Health Service dentist as well. All treatment for children is free. An adult check-up and cleaning costs less than $25.00. Repair of my crown on an emergency basis cost $50.00.
• Children are given free eye exams and glasses if needed every other year.

The downside to the National Health Service is that if your health issue is not life-threatening, you have to wait. Waiting times vary regionally. For example, a hip replacement can take 18 months. But such waits can be avoided by buying top-up insurance. I have a friend who is using a private top-up option so his surgery will take place within the month. Top-up policies for families like ours usually cost less than $200/month.

When I needed major kidney surgery I opted to use private insurance. The waiting time would have been as much as 4 months. I had the private option so I took it. The same doctor would have been my surgeon either way. The hospital would have been different.
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The American living in England goes on to provide a statistical analysis of death rates as the result of cancer. With the preventive programs commonly used in the U.K., their deathrate per 100,000 citizens was 235.5. The deathrate for cancer in the U.S., where preventive programs are less common, more expensive and often not covered by private insurance policies was 321.9 deaths per 100,000. All but one of the EU countries, all of which have national healthcare, were substantially better than the deathrate for cancer experienced in the U.S.

Again, I provide this firsthand report for informational purposes. Before we embrace the often bitter criticism of "socialized medicine", should at least understand how that sort of system works for real people so that we might compare it to what we have or what our government is planning as "healthcare reforms".