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Recently, on the Saving and Gifting thread, I listed the organizations I support: “a reading service for the blind, the local hospice, Planned Parenthood, public radio and TV, and the [retirement] community’s benevolent fund”, to which I should have added Royal Oak, the US affiliate of the National Trust. I added that “having grown up in what some Americans no doubt consider a Socialist country [UK], I consider charity to be the job of the government, for which I am willing to pay taxes.”
It subsequently occurred to me, that if I still lived in the UK, I would not, in fact, need to make those contributions, aside from the National Trust. The BBC is funded by the annual license fee, plus “commercial subsidiaries “. Both the routine female medical care and abortions provided by Planned Parenthood come under the National Health Service (NHS), right? What about hospice and services for the blind?
Between the NHS and very low fees for tertiary education (it was free in my day), plus at least some private pensions with COLAs, it seems to me that Brits live with a lot less stress (and debt) than Americans.
The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. The NHS provides real benefits to folks, particularly low-income patients and people dealing with certain medical conditions.
But years of waiting lists, rationing, and concern about the level of care has led to the development of a sizable private health care industry in the UK – and a growing health insurance industry. Just like in the US, many employers offer private health care as a benefit. A lot of my UK-based relatives dip into both the NHS and private systems to optimize their family care. Not dissimilar to American retirees who have Medicare and private (legacy work) insurance.
My understanding is that Tory governments starved the NHS of money, and Brexit starved it of workers. Doesn’t invalidate the concept, though.
The private cover isn’t comparable to the US though. It’s largely for elective stuff and skipping waiting lists. For serious things like cardiac arrests, cancer or RTAs you’ll be in the NHS. Private hospitals don’t have ERs. Thus premia are relatively cheap.
That’s the key, less debt and stress in exchange for higher taxes and more services.
Americans don’t get it and probably will just keep complaining about their already relatively low taxes.
As Dan points out below, this may be the result of lack of information. Not helped by the equation of anything that might be considered socialism with Communism. You would think that a country with such a high percentage of religious believers would be more concerned about helping others, and seeing everyone as part of a community.
Go on TruthSocial and be shocked by the so-called religious.
Why do you spend time on these sites? Can’t be good for your blood pressure. I had a Twitter account when it first started but it quickly became too much of a time suck and I abandoned it. The only other social media I’ve ever bothered with are Lonely Planet and Fodors travel forums, and more recently HumbleDollar. I get my news from actual (digital) newspapers.
I’ve had to curate my Twitter/X feed because it isn’t good for my blood pressure. I prefer to engage with news on my schedule (from my Apple News feed), not when it pops up in a social media app.
That said, the one thing about occasionally delving into sites that are arguably bad for one’s cardiac health is that you get a read for how other people who see the world differently think and communicate. It’s distressing but also eye-opening.
You sound just like me. Subscriptions to WSJ, NYT and Washington Post keep me informed.
Plus AP and the Raleigh News and Observer. It takes me a while to get through my inbox in the morning!
Someone doesn’t like the AP and the N&O?
Twitter (X) is basically a cesspool since Musk bought it. I can only imagine what Truth Social (there’s a misnomer for you) is. No thanks.
Not a UK poster per se, but I am one right now. As we spend lots of time here maybe I count. 🙂
To your point about charity, we like that there’s a big charity culture here. One of the things we really enjoy is the plethora of charity shops run by various organizations, conveniently located in main commercial areas (I understand they get a rent or tax break to be able to be there). People apparently make the effort to donate which is great. We do some of our own shopping there, buying items to use for a while and donate back when we don’t want to carry them.
We have them in the US, too. I was a regular for a while when I moved out of my house. People at my retirement community put together jig-saw puzzles for one of the local shops to find out whether all the pieces are there.
This is a great question Kathy. Whenever I have spoken at length with someone not from the US, it always seems that they know more about the US than I know about their country. I wonder how US attitudes might be different if people had a better understanding of the way things worked elsewhere.
Thanks to Mark and others who have some constructive things to add.
Thanks, Dan. The idea that the US has all the answers can get tiring. As does the “rugged individual”myth. Even cowboys needed someone to drive the chuck wagon, and a pioneer family that set off on their own probably wasn’t long for this world.
100% correct and that myth is getting worse and even driving tax policy in the ludicrous quest to “empower” us.
When I moved to the US I started hearing about the Lewis and Clark exploratory expedition. It sounded like they did it on their own, but recently I learned that they had a handpicked group of soldiers with them. I saw the fort at Astoria where they over-wintered, and it clearly wasn’t built by just two people.
The BBC is licence-fee funded, and NHS covers core medical care, unlike the US charity model. This reduces the need for individual donations in those specific areas.
However, it’s not a complete absence of charity. While the NHS contributes to hospice care and services for the visually impaired, many UK charities significantly rely on donations to enhance provisions. The National Trust also remains a charity dependent on memberships and donations.
Your point about less stress and debt in the UK due to public services holds weight. While the UK model emphasizes public provision, charitable giving still plays a crucial, complementary role, topping up services beyond the government-funded baseline.
What is the license fee, a fee to watch television?
Yes, see here. No longer required if you only have a radio.
An interesting read. It is a ruthlessly enforced tax where the burden of proving that one is exempt is completely up to that individual, else the tax is assessed and collected. Great!
Gee. I only pay $7 a month to watch all the Britbox shows I want to. Is there still advertising on TV? I’ve watched TV in a home in England but I don’t recall.
But the BBC is much more than what you see on Britbox. For starters, there are five radio channels plus the BBC World Service, a Welsh language service, and extensive news coverage.
There are also commercial TV stations in Britain.
Well with digital radio more or less infinite BBC radio stations if you count all the local ones and variants. I see BBC are introducing a news service subscription for US that means you won’t need a VPN for that.
BBC News – BBC website in US launches paid subscription service
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2vgkn7w10o
All non BBC channels have advertising, as increasingly do streamers( and BBC does too – it’s simply directed at advertising other BBC content)
Thanks. I was particularly interested in hospice. Medicare will pay for hospice if you are thought to be within six months of death, I don’t know about private insurance for people under 65.
But there are also local hospice charities.
I’d say the UK model isn’t perfect by any means. The real frustration with the free at the point of use NHS model is that people are careless with missed appointments and services are rationed by capacity and waiting lists. Plus only post Covid has there been an effective digital service.
Friends who live in other European countries seem to enjoy better health services with low cost mandatory insurance and low co-pays. It’s somewhat ridiculous for anyone with means to be getting 3.5 meals per day free if they have a hospital stay.
France generally seems to come out top on comparisons of medical systems.
Hospice care is a free service for everyone in need.
Nice.
Why on earth is that one word getting down voted? This is getting ridiculous.
You must have your own troll, Kathy. I noticed even your comment about retirees putting together jigsaw puzzles got down-voted. 🤷♀️