Heath insurance
NHS and the UK
In the UK, just like in most of European Union, there is state health care system. Every citizen is required to have medical insurance in this area of the world. Not only is the NHS an insurance company but it also runs many hospitals in the UK and Northern Ireland. There are also NHS services available on Jersey and the Isle of Man. However, for major surgeries, you are required to go to the mainland and choose one of the hospitals that you would like to have the surgery done.
The NHS was started in 1948 with a budget that was 10 times less then it is today. It falls under the Department of Health. The Health care minister reports directly to the UK Prime Minister. Every region in the UK has a SHA Strategic Health Authorities. There are 10 of those SHA in the UK and they are all controlled by the Department of Health.
The NHS employs currently around 1.7 million people that include nurses, doctors, dentists, ambulance personal and general practitioners (GP). Only a couple other organizations employ the same or more people.
Doctors under the NHS plan are paid by the tax payer’s money. This means that salaries cannot be astronomically high. All salaries are on a pay scale. This ensures that that everybody is treated equally.
In the last couple of years the entire British healthcare system has received an overhaul. This was a cost effective measure. Jobs were lost and some procedures are no longer free. These procedures will need to be paid for by you.
When your GP refers you for a consult you have the ability to choose which hospital you want to go to. Some NHS hospitals have a longer waiting list than other for certain procedures.
Besides the NHS, the UK has several private insurance companies. One of the biggest is BUPA. BUPA started out 60 years ago in the UK as a local insurance company and grew over the years to a big international insurer that has customers in over 200 countries.
BUPA does the same as the NHS does but has there own doctors and hospitals that it’s support. Recently they have opened several BUPA hospitals in the UK.
There travel insurance has been unbeaten in the last few years. It covers International travel as well. Certain procedures abroad are fully covered by BUPA.