by different when we compare the united states and the united kingdom the united states has the largest private sector system while the united kingdom has one of the largest public sector systems both systems are highly respected and have world-class health outcomes but the uk healthcare otherwise known as the national health services nhs has way fewer health outcomes variation across its population when compared to the us if you want to discover the main differences between both systems make sure that you stick around
healthcare in the us is almost exclusive by private sector providers hospitals are owned by either for-profit or non-profit organizations most of the people in the us have access to health care through a blend of private health insurance medicare and medicaid programs medicare is a federal program that provides health coverage if you are 65 years or older no matter what income you have medicare also provides coverage for people with disabilities even if they are under 65 years old medicaid
on the other hand is a state and federal program that provides health coverage if you have a very low income and cannot cover your health care costs by yourself
the remaining people who are not covered by private insurance medicare or medicaid will have to rely on their own financial resources to cover their health and medicine expenses the united kingdom health care system otherwise known as the national health services and a chess is an ideal example of socialized medicine and a single-payer healthcare system this means that healthcare is provided by a single payer which is the british government and is
funded by taxpayers of the united kingdom the appointments and treatments are provided for free to patients as are most of the prescription drugs well let’s reemphasize that it’s paid by taxes so it’s not truly free but the nhs is not entirely free there are some services that require patients to pay such as dental and eye care but the fees are comparably low to the us fees the maximum cost of receiving any drug prescribed by the nhs is 12 the united kingdom does allow employers to offer private health insurance plans to workers some of these workers decide to opt out of the nhs and receive their medical treatments privately
it is quite an advantage as private patients choose their specialists unlike nhs patients private patients also avoid waiting lists for non-emergency procedures while nhs patients tend to wait for weeks or even months when it comes to accessibility nhs patients receive their primary care from general practitioners which are referred to as gps who act as gatekeepers for secondary care when it comes to accessibility based on age the national institute for health and care excellence otherwise known as nice consults citizens council to help it sort through difficult ethical issues such as prioritization of patients based on age which is simply not allowed in the uk patients of all age should receive the same degree of access to the health care system now let’s compare the us and uk health care system the united states spends more on health care than any other country when compared to the united kingdom the expenditures of the u.s healthcare system are approximately double theexpenditures of healthcare system in the uk
it is worth mentioning that the united kingdom’s nhs services have a low cost when compared to other developed nations according to the world health organization uk spends around four thousand dollars per person while the us spends ten thousand five hundred dollars per person that means that the united kingdom spends around nine point eight percent of its gdp on health care while the us spends 16.9 percent that’s a huge difference but wait there is always a trade-off fora low coast the nhs is known for
slow responsiveness time when compared to the us u.s healthcare system which ranks as number one for responsiveness according to the world health organization the u.s healthcare system is responsible for populations wants and needs the uk healthcare is
financially constrained which will result in wants to be constrained this is seen in the form of a long waiting list for non-essential medical care which is required by people in the uk and obviously this is met by long waiting times nhs patients wait an average of about eight weeks for treatments that require admission to a hospital,
