With all of the legislative changes going on in the United States, many people are wondering what it’s like in different parts of the world where health care is already run in part or in full by the government. While national health care systems can vary greatly from one country to another, one of the systems that Americans are most often curious about is the medical insurance system in the UK.

Here are some of the basic ideas surrounding medical insurance in the UK that you may or may not already know:

• The National Health Service provides for basic health needs to people in the UK. That’s the basic principle, anyways. The NHS pays for and/or administers health care for folks. When you go to a doctor, there is only one payer that the doctor has to deal with. They won’t bill a separate insurance company (in many cases) because they don’t have to.
• You have to wait your turn for medical care. The medical system in the UK is famous for its queues. For certain types of medical care – such as routine checkups and such – you can usually get a pretty quick appointment. However, the waiting list for some specialty medical doctors and for certain procedures is quite long.
• There is still private medical insurance. This is how many people in the UK get around the queues. If you have private medical insurance, you can go to a physician who can often see you right away. There are certain things that private medical insurance won’t cover, of course, and there are things that it does. Mostly, private medical insurance in the UK is a way to get quicker service.
• The quality of care varies from one area to the next. While you’ve probably heard horrible things from some folks about the medical care situation in the UK, you’ve probably heard great things from someone else. That’s because care can vary greatly from one area to the next. Some NHS hospitals, for example, have a stellar reputation while people avoid others if at all possible.

Contrary to the political rhetoric you’re likely to hear, the medical insurance system in the UK is neither perfect nor the world’s worse. Whether it’s any better than what the U.S. has today is, as always, open for discussion.

Photo via roblisameehan