London medical price rise

[Lansbury 19]

#######. Unless something totally unbelievable happens Bruce's will be after that date. Yet another case of Rip-Off Britain???

Well, think about it this way; they're the ones who get to do the medicals for US visas and they're the only ones. You can't choose your own. There MUST be some kick-backery going on there.

and of course medical care is so cheap in the States

[homesick_american 1]

#######. Unless something totally unbelievable happens Bruce's will be after that date. Yet another case of Rip-Off Britain???

Well, think about it this way; they're the ones who get to do the medicals for US visas and they're the only ones. You can't choose your own. There MUST be some kick-backery going on there.

and of course medical care is so cheap in the States

I never had to pay $400 for a medical.

Plus, the NHS isn't that great either...and you sort of get what you pay for. The PCT where I live is so broke that their cutbacks are endangering patient care. Wooooo!

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

Blame Gordon Brown for the 3.1% inflation!

I just blame Gordon Brown, even without the inflation!

I'll tell him -- I'm at No.11 tomorrow night (no kidding). I'll say, Mags sent me!

Oh, that's nice of you, you sure you don't mind?

Nope, it would be my pleasure! Just checked my diary -- I'm an idiot, the reception is tomorrow so my message will have to wait another day...

[cartaverde 12]

Uhh.... great.

I'm trying to get a job in London now for the time being ... (whatever more than infinite time it takes for K3). $ 400 for the medical is a theft though...

[samwatts 0]

Oh my god this is shocking, we are having a hard enough time tryin to save for everything as it is without prices going up!!

Does anyone know what the child prices have gone upto, if they have??

How do they expect people to pay out for all of the visa process and pay for a wedding when they keep increasing prices??

Does anyone at the USCIS or relevent embassys or even Gordon Brown believe in love anymore?? if so please give us a break

[Fandango 1,439]

Swings and roundabouts.....I had brain & spinal surgery & wound up $1 million in debt here in the US.

I wouldn't say a 3% hike is indicative of the UK being a 'complete and utter ripoff'

[Mags 112]

Swings and roundabouts.....I had brain & spinal surgery & wound up $1 million in debt here in the US.

*gulp* Bloody hell Lisa.

[ChasUK 0]

Swings and roundabouts.....I had brain & spinal surgery & wound up $1 million in debt here in the US.

I wouldn't say a 3% hike is indicative of the UK being a 'complete and utter ripoff'

Bad news about the surgery. Hope it was successful.

Maybe 3% rise isn't. But a £30 increase on £170 is in fact 17.6% increase which is a bit much. Furthermore the UK is a rip off on almost everything else as well. Fuel, groceries, tax etc etc etc. the list goes on. I think you'll find that those of us who have lived all our lives here know that we are being ripped off every day.

Edited April 24, 2007 by Gone

[kins 0]

Swings and roundabouts.....I had brain & spinal surgery & wound up $1 million in debt here in the US.

I wouldn't say a 3% hike is indicative of the UK being a 'complete and utter ripoff'

Bad news about the surgery. Hope it was successful.

Maybe 3% rise isn't. But a £30 increase on £170 is in fact 17.6% increase which is a bit much. Furthermore the UK is a rip off on almost everything else as well. Fuel, groceries, tax etc etc etc. the list goes on. I think you'll find that those of us who have lived all our lives here know that we are being ripped off every day.

I do feel ripped off about a lot of things BUT I am about to move to the US where health insurance for my family is going to cost us $11,000 a year. And I still have to pay co-pays and deductibles on top. The health care had better be REALLY amazing out there for that price.

[Fandango 1,439]

Swings and roundabouts.....I had brain & spinal surgery & wound up $1 million in debt here in the US.

I wouldn't say a 3% hike is indicative of the UK being a 'complete and utter ripoff'

Bad news about the surgery. Hope it was successful.

Maybe 3% rise isn't. But a £30 increase on £170 is in fact 17.6% increase which is a bit much. Furthermore the UK is a rip off on almost everything else as well. Fuel, groceries, tax etc etc etc. the list goes on. I think you'll find that those of us who have lived all our lives here know that we are being ripped off every day.

I didn't know the exact figure of what it was before, and was skimming this thread & saw summat in this thread mentioning 3% so for me 1 + 1 = 3

Yep the surgery went well (depending on who you ask, lol) and yes things are expensive there...I know that. But everything evens out really imo....I brought up my surgery to prove the point of while gas, tax, etc is expensive there...you at least get the balance of free health care. We can debate the word 'free' til the cows come home really, but you can walk into emergency and not have to do the math of what a 10% copay's gonna be. And that's if you're lucky enough to have health care to begin with! And of course there are those who don't see that value, cos they never have had to, and that's such a wonderful thing.

But it's all to do with proximity as well. You want Florida oranges in the middle of winter, well they're going to be expensive. But if I wanted to fly to Ireland from Florida, it'd be a lot more than flying from Teeside airport to Dublin.

So there's cost in everything, things are expensive wherever you go...unless you want to live on a commune and grow your own veg, lol. It's inflation, not neccessarily indicative of a whole country being a 'complete and utter ripoff'

But that's just my opinion

Edited April 24, 2007 by LisaD

[ChasUK 0]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The UK does not have free health care. Everyone pays National Insurance. Unfortunately if one decides to opt into their own private health care plan, they still have to pay National Insurance.

Furthermore that same "free" health care is crumbling all the time. For routine stuff it works ok...ish.

I needed shoulder surgery which I had to wait nearly a year to have. We have people waiting for beds on trolleys in corridors. Staffing levels are falling and so is the care as a direct result. Our hospitals are plagued with MRSA and generally speaking it is sub standard quality service.

Yes, health care insurance can be expensive in the US but it still works better and faster than the UK, and a lot of the time people would rather be fixed, healed and cured as quickly and efficiently as possible rather than as cheaply as possible when they can fit you in.

[homesick_american 1]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The UK does not have free health care. Everyone pays National Insurance. Unfortunately if one decides to opt into their own private health care plan, they still have to pay National Insurance.

Furthermore that same "free" health care is crumbling all the time. For routine stuff it works ok...ish.

I needed shoulder surgery which I had to wait nearly a year to have. We have people waiting for beds on trolleys in corridors. Staffing levels are falling and so is the care as a direct result. Our hospitals are plagued with MRSA and generally speaking it is sub standard quality service.

Yes, health care insurance can be expensive in the US but it still works better and faster than the UK, and a lot of the time people would rather be fixed, healed and cured as quickly and efficiently as possible rather than as cheaply as possible when they can fit you in.

I agree. For what we pay in taxes in the UK, we're being ripped off. York's NHS PCT is an effing JOKE. It's PATHETIC. On the one hand, you can end up in a massive amount of debt in the US from medical bills. On the other, that doesn't happen to everyone. Several family members have had cancer or invasive surgeries with long recuperations and none of them went broke. None of them lost their insurance coverage either. On the flipside of that, I know people in the UK who have had to declare bankruptcy due to lengthy illnesses...so even if you don't have medical bills to pay you're still screwed, so I don't see how the system is any better. Having cancer is as likely to bankrupt you in the UK as it is in the USA, so whether your medical bills are $0 or $1m becomes irrelevant.

The NHS has good care for acute problems; they fixed my systemic allergic reaction in a jif; but I could have done that myself in the United States with a trip to the pharmacy since they're open 24 hours a day there. There are none of those in York, hence I had to go to A&E. The NHS is rubbish for chronic conditions like diabetes, MS, etc. I know several people who suffer from chronic conditions and they all receive what would be considered sub-standard care in the United States. Personally I think the NHS is crumbling and is in danger of collapsing...and soon. Blame Tony Blair's Labour party. Labour will lose the next general election, the Tories will get in, and they'll privatize it. Then the British won't have their 'free' health care to crow about.

[arwensun1965 0]

Oh well £400 to shell out instead of £340

[kins 0]

I do feel ripped off about a lot of things BUT I am about to move to the US where health insurance for my family is going to cost us $11,000 a year. And I still have to pay co-pays and deductibles on top. The health care had better be REALLY amazing out there for that price.

Hey and on top of all that, they won't cover any of our pre-existing conditions for the first year. What a GREAT system!

PS neither me or any of my children pay any National Insurance in the UK... where did the idea that everyone pays it come from?

Edited April 25, 2007 by kins

[Mags 112]

I worked for the NHS for 8 years so have seen the system from the inside. First of all it depends on which Healthcare Trust you fall under. Some are excellent, others appalling. I worked for a mid-range London hospital. It was clean, had clear corridors and a good rate of clearing beds. If you fall under an appalling one, with horrendous waiting times then, depending on what ails you, you could be in some trouble.

I was lucky where I lived and where I worked (2 separate trusts). I have had nothing but excellent service from my own hospital and GP, for both my son and I. For example, I needed an MRI on my head (to check there was a brain there! LOL) and had an appointment within a week. It wasn't an emergency either, just routine. A friend of mine (who lived in the same Trust area) needed Gall bladder surgery. She only waited 4 weeks for it, again not an emergency.

My son has ADHD (as do I) and his drugs cost $300 a month here. It is a pre-existing condition, not covered by insurance. I got them free in the UK. When he was diagnosed I had excellent service. Psychology sessions, counselling sessions etc etc. Didn't cost me a penny. Over here it is $120 a time.

Still, despite all of this, all of the bad press, I'd rather have the NHS than the American system. That all seems to be about how much money they can squeeze out of you or your insurance provider. My husband had to have some blood tests a few years ago. His GP made him have so many, without ever giving him results ("we just need to do one more!") that his insurance company (through his work) told him that they wouldn't pay for anymore of these tests. The GP was a total fraud, trying to squeeze as much cash out of him as possible.

Suffice it to say, he didn't go back.

Edited April 25, 2007 by mags