No

by Eric D. Brown

Created on: November 20, 2010

Being from the United States, my perspective on the United Kingdom’s National Health Care Service (NHS) is certainly ignorant, however before you dismiss me; please allow me to weigh in with this simple statement: “Nothing is ever free”!

With the United States recently adopting our own model of the NHS system, we dub it “Obama Care”.  Our version of the NHS is becoming ever increasingly unpopular due to the burdensome language and the realization of the costs of this hastily passed legislation.

One of the biggest questions here in the States is “how are we going to pay for this”?

That very question begs the response to the overall question, should the NHS remain a free service?  I submit to you that the NHS was never a “free” service in the first place!

Nothing is free . . .  everything has to be paid for! 

Nothing is ever free, especially if it comes from the Government!  Everything has to be paid for using tax dollars.  Where do tax dollars come from?  The tax dollars come from the tax payer.  And who are the tax payers – us!

But I don’t pay income taxes, and I get free medical, you protest . . .

Well, congratulations to you for not paying your way in society.  Either you are a criminal or, like me you have one heck of a good CPA (Certified Public Accountant).  Although, thinking about it, even my CPA can’t get me out of paying all taxes.

Even if you think you are not paying income taxes, you are paying taxes my friend. 

There are sales tax, gas tax, VAT tax, liquor and tobacco tax, and etc.  There are import duties (also known as taxes) on items imported to the country; you are paying those in the price of the item you are buying which was made outside of the country.

Not to turn this in to a boring lament on really how much taxes we as citizens pay, but the point is that we all share in the tax burden.  If you don’t like paying these taxes, or you would like to see them lowered, then you need to request less of your Government.

The way to have an efficient medical system is to “fix” it!

Here in the States we basically have three ways to pay for a medical procedure.  You can pay using your own money, just whip out that check book and write a check.  You can also use your medical insurance to pay.  Or, you pay using your Government Insurance Medicare, if you qualify for Medicare.

The true problem here that really needs to be fixed is that the Doctor will charge three different prices depending upon the method of payment.  If you pay with your own check book, you will get the best price.  The insurance company will get the second best price and of course the Government’s Medicare really gets “screwed” with the highest price. 

The abuse is documented and staggering!  In fact, on October 30th 2010, the Los Angeles Times’ Lisa Girion wrote an article about two Doctors who defrauded the Medicare system by “subjecting mentally ill homeless people to unnecessary tests and other procedures at a North Hollywood clinic in order to submit fraudulent bills to government insurance programs...”.

This is just one small example of how easy it is to defraud the Government Insurance (NHS) System.  Those two Doctors were accused of defrauding the Government out of Millions of dollars within only a six month period of time! 

How many other Doctors across the nation and in the UK are doing the same! 

Remember, nothing is ever “free” – you should know that – don’t you remember mom always telling you that there is no such thing as a free lunch!

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