London Bridge Hospital

As planned, a few days after we got back from Venice I spent the day hanging out at London Bridge Hospital while Joe had some minor day patient surgery. We have had a couple of direct experiences with the UK health care system, but this was by far the largest.

Before this our experiences with UK health care had been limited essentially to our annual physicals. The National Health Care system does not allow for annual physicals, in fact its approach seems to be one that askews the idea of preventive medicine. We shell out hard cash for the physicals, about £500 each.

For Joe's surgery, he first went to his NHS assigned doctor, who acts much like the primary care physician in the 1980s/1990s -- now tossed -- HMO system in the US. Once the doctor gave the diagnosis, our private health insurance kicked in. The coverage was excellent and easy to navigate and paid 100% of the doctor visits, hosptial, surgery and follow-up directly to the providers. And because it was private and not NHS there was no wait -- the wait for the same procedure with NHS was at least 6 months in our area -- and we were able to choose the doctor and the hospital, ensuring we had an expert. During our search, we were pleasantly surprised to also find that most private doctors disclosed a one price covers all for the costs of the procedure including the hospital fees, follow-up, etc. The surgeon Joe picked is considered one of the UK's top ten surgeons for the procedure.

Being an all private, for-profit hospital -- it's owned by HCA -- meant that service was excellent. Plenty of nurses and attendants and a person who's sole job was to make sure that everyone in the day surgery section was fed when and what they wanted within doctors orders. Plenty of TV, video on demand and a very friendly and helpful atmosphere.

Is NHS better? It's hard to say. Between what we pay in NHS payroll taxes, plus private health insurance, plus the cost of our physicals we put forth much more cash than if we were paying for our health insurance on an individual basis in the US. That's the down side. On the up side, everyone has access to health care. I'm not sure though that Americans could handle the limits they would have on prevention, testing and access to the latest techniques and drugs that are common with the NHS.