UK : the next failed state ?

[oracleslave]

i didn't realise that most of the third world had NHS for us to compare it to!

whs

[foritisme]

You forgot to mention the lousy weather.

[NotAllThere]

:As for the NHS: as crap as it is, anyone of us who has had to face the bills for health care everywhere else in the world will know it's value.

NHS is ok, but there are other ways that seem to work better.

I pay ~£700 a month for health insurance for the whole family, with £1000 excess. This is more than offset in the tiny NI equivalent. I can see any doctor I chose, usually same day. The longest wait I've ever had in casualty has been 45 minutes. Usually it's about 10-15 max. I've had next day MRI, same day CAT, same day to see the specialist (as opposed to the 6 months wait in the UK, and it was only that short because I was an urgent case), 3 week wait for surgery.

Poor people have their health insurance premiums subsidised by the government.

Education is also free, class sizes usually 20 or less.

Mind you, doctors and nurses in the UK are usually higher skilled, since they see an awful lot more, and get more experience. That's why the medical people here often do a couple of years in the UK.

Debt being at its highest in human history. Well, yes, it would be, wouldn't it, due to inflation. The question is whether debt as a proportion of income is higher. Or whether the proportion of debt defaulting is higher (i.e. a measure of affordability of credit - if you can pay off the loan comfortably, then it doesn't matter how big it is ).