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Comment by jstx1 | Hacker News Reader

> But you do get unlimited health-care for you and your dependents

Healthcare in the UK is not a solved problem at all - long waiting times and lots of stuff that should be covered in theory but in practice can't be accessed by many people (mental health, dental treatments). I'm paying a lot in taxes and NI, I have private health insurance through my employer and in many cases I still need to pay out of pocket for treatments.

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It took my mother 3 months to get into see a cardiologist for a moderately serious issue. My sister has MS and is currently seeing the only neurologist in the area who specializes in MS, but they are retiring soon. She also spent a year being jerked around by insurance when they rejected the medication her neurologist prescribed, her disease progressing the whole time (there's no "getting better with MS, just slowing progress).

People in the US often criticize the wait times in the UK or Canada like it's better here, but it's often really, really not.

As an American living in the UK, I will point out that you're not wrong, but the NHS is still vastly better than what was available in the US. And that most of the problems with long waits, etc. are largely the result of deliberate defunding and meddling by conservatives.

American here, when we or our kids need to see a specialist we usually have to go to an urgent care clinic to get a referral because scheduling with our primary care can be 3-6 months out. Then it's about a 4-8 month wait to see the specialist and a whole bunch of unknowns on treatment and the cost.

Some of my conservative friends have voiced that we need to radically change our healthcare but some still insist on their "freedoms".

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