I Visit the NHS

I've used the National Health Service twice in the past week and come away impressed. As a student here for nine months, I'm entitled to full coverage by the NHS. Imagine something like that happening in the United States. I am paying 20% VAT over here though, so I don't feel too guilty.

My stock of medicine from home is running low, so I went into the NHS branch to talk about getting my prescription refilled. My appointment was for 10:30, so SUPER EARLY in other words, and I was embarrassingly 20 minutes late. Despite this, I ended up getting to my appointment in twenty minutes and even though all I had was my pill bottle, there were no problems getting me set up for a refill. The only catch was that I needed to get some blood work done - apparently they have some concerns about my medicine causing liver cancer sometimes or something, which I guess they're not too worried about in the States. I said whatever, it's not my money after all, so I scheduled another appointment to get my blood drawn.

I went into that appointment today, this time only five minutes late, and was seen right away. Getting my blood drawn took no time even though I forgot a paper I was supposed to bring. They had all my records digitized so they knew exactly what was up. Unlike the painfully awkward laptop carts I see them use at Borgess for electronic records, they're process seemed well integrated. The doctor was courteous, even offering a few comforting words to help with my apparent discomfort over getting poked (thanks dad!)

I'll be able to start getting my prescription when I get back from break, and they will cost less than a third of what my family pays back home. Go socialism!

So this is the part where I compare the NHS to the US's dismal system and talk about single payer. It's certainly worth pointing out that the editor of a leading libertarian magazine has written enviously of France's health care system. However, our government already spends more per capita on health care than the UK and other single payer countries! It's just that firms and individuals in the US also spend a ton on health care! I think that if we can get costs down to typical developed country levels, then we could make a smashing public or private health care system. The question is how to get those costs down. There certainly are appealing things about the single payer system in terms of cost control, but I think the issues are so intertwined and deep in the US system that no single reform will have a very large impact, and any major change could have unintended consequences.