Comparative Healthcare

One of the arguments that keeps cropping up against the proposed health care reform is that a growing number of people in Britain are choosing to buy private health insurance due to the failures of the NHS. Notwithstanding the fact that nothing being proposed even closely resembles the NHS, it's worth addressing this misconception.

As with the best deceits, this does contain a grain of truth, but it also misses a great deal.

The insurance that Brits are buying in no way resembles the standard U.S. health insurance. The primary difference is that British insurance plans cover almost nothing. All regular primary care, as well as many simple procedures, and emergency care are still handled 100% by the NHS. The insurance that people are buying typically covers a small number of procedures that they may require later in life, a hip replacement for example.

Because of this structure, the insurance 'model' actually makes sense; many persons contribute to a fund from which only a few will actually need to withdraw. This is the same as your household or car insurance. This means that the premiums are very low compared to U.S. insurance, maybe £20 or £30 a month.

Although no one is seriously advocating this right now, my feeling is that the model of insurance for health care will become increasingly untenable in America.