The Myth of America's Free Market Healthcare | IEA Book Club 

The NHS is a disaster, terrible to work in, terrible to be a patient in. It's reached the point that the UK is experiencing significant excess mortality because they simply can't see a doctor.

I have to say, as a Brit who has lived in Germany for several years, from the outside looking in, I simply cannot fathom how besotted my fellow countrymen are with the NHS. It’s like a religious fervour. No matter how bad the NHS is (and it really is bad!) they cannot acknowledge it and entertain alternatives.

Good luck convincing the British public the reality of the NHS. Its more saintly than God around these parts and criticism will not be tolerated. Of course nobody asks why no other country in the world decided to copy it, or why its outcomes are so bad, or why nobody can actually get in to see a Dr. Its awesome and that's all the British people need to know.

We’ve put the NHS on an unhealthy pedestal, without actually evaluating the health outcomes in relation to how much we spend on it and also if other Health Care Systems like the Dutch, Singapore, French model might be a better alternative to what we currently have!

If I have ever seen an advertisement for why we should never have non-discretionary health insurance, cost sharing or privatisation of public health this is it. This reinforces the case for the NHS being a completely vertically integrated service where it is the only purchaser and buys exclusively from itself. We have, after all, private facilities available and there is no hinderance on anyone using them.

Well lost the plot right at the beginning healthcare cannot benefit from a free market. As most economist know there is no such thing as a free market other than as a theoretical model. A free market is precisely defined as a market without influence or regulation trends towards market equilibrium. Aside from the obvious that a market without any influence is virtual impossible and market that is without regulation trend to one side being more dominant the other, typically this is the supplier. The health insurance in the US is nothing like that in Germany. Ther germany system is non profit, the US system is partially mandaded , low income earners do not have access to health insurance. Also health service is prioritised on financial need not health care need, for the most part it is not doctors and nurses deciding primary care it is accountants and financial analysts. The veterans health administration is privately owned it is not state owned. Honestly is it worth listening to anything more. The NHS is a struggling that is true. But ones only hears about the failing, when the amount of successful operations it carries out on a daily basis is staggering. It is the most comprehensive medical service in the world, that is free at the point of use. Of course there are many problems with the NHS given the services it provides, one of the biggest problem is its frequently used as a political punch ball. It need to be operate independently of politics. $2billion of the NHS budget is spent on providing staff and service to private healthcare facilities who are earning income from their patients and gain huge profit because they only cover a fraction of the expenses. The NHS is also too top heavy with waves of higher level management that do not have the right skills, knowledge and expertise to run a health service. The NHS need management team that are specialised in both healthcare management and frontline health services. Yes issues with the NHS need to be address openly and honestly, doctors and nurses need to be given the recognition and support they so richly deserve and they should be empowered to do what is need to make the NHS the best it can be; it would take a lot but not as much as you think.

The NHS might not be perfect and failing but the thought of potential bankruptcy is scary and I'm happy to not have that

The NHS takes people's rights? Nice try. #toxic

Cato institute #axisofevil #arttruthpolitics