S/o benefits in US vs. UK

amother

Jade

Tue, Feb 09 2021, 4:28 pm

UK in a nutshell. Currently government benefit system is something called universal credit. This combines all the old separate benefits, which included housing benefit, something called tax credits, child benefit etc.
As a general rule the benefit system is set up that people should earn the minimum and not save, as for every extra pound you earn, you lose about 70pence in benefits. Also if you have savings above 16000, you won't be entitled to any benefits. This doesn't encourage people to want to move off benefits as you don't really gain. Unless you and your dh are in a really high paying job, most of the time you end up losing most of any gain you might have had in paying taxes. This is why you will find most people don't bother trying to earn more as it's not worth the trouble.

amother

Mistyrose

Tue, Feb 09 2021, 5:04 pm

doodlesmom wrote:

And how much is universal credit?

And you do have universal health insurance .

I believe universal credit varies on amount of dependants.

Health care is free. We are lucky to live with the absolutely amazing NHS. Dentistry is not free (it is free for those receiving benefits) but greatly subsidised. Children are free as well no matter what the financial situation is.

There are of course private medical options for which you can either pay for out of pocket or take out medical insurance but it is not a necessity. The only benefit of it is speed. You get to see the same consultants as on the nhs- they all also work for the nhs but you will get to see them much quicker. This is for non emergency matters. Emergency matters are all dealt with in Accident and Emergency at the local hospital.

Also, medical insurance here does not cover for chronic issues. So if someone is diagnosed with a chronic issue privately, they will then be referred to the nhs to continue their healthcare. And often under the same consultant they saw privately if they work locally on the nhs as well.

amother

Purple

Tue, Feb 09 2021, 5:50 pm

amother [ Mistyrose ] wrote:

This reminds me 1 time dd had to see a specialist and it was taking a while for me to get an apt. When the gp sends a referral for you you can often choose which hospital you want, but not the doctor. So since I felt it was taking too long I asked my gp to recommend me a private doctor, so he told me he is giving me a referral to a top doctor in the field. I made the apt, and meanwhile I got the NHS apt so I decided to continue with the NHS since the apts were only a few days apart. We get there, and amazingly it was the exact same doctor I had made the private apt with!

amother

Mistyrose

Wed, Feb 10 2021, 3:35 am

s c wrote:

Private health care in UK deals with all issues including chronic issues. I guess it depends the level of health care you have.

That is definitely not the usual case, and I’m talking even with the top level of cover from the insurance provider.

Maybe international insurance covers? but that’s not standard for people living in the Uk- most are not international.

amother

Mistyrose

Wed, Feb 10 2021, 3:37 am

s c wrote:

Private health care in UK deals with all issues including chronic issues. I guess it depends the level of health care you have.

Also, often private insurance won’t pay for expensive (tens of thousands of pounds) worth of treatment whilst the nhs happily will, so it often requires a transfer of care to the nhs.

amother

Purple

Wed, Feb 10 2021, 4:32 am

Another thing. I know someone who needed a complex surgery. She was under the care of great doctors and had excellent insurance. When it came to the surgery though, her doctors didnt want to do it in their private hospital since they said if any complications arose during the surgery they aren't equipped for it. A good NHS hospital has all types of specialist in one place, and equipment. In the end she had the surgery in a NHS hospital with her own doctors. So there is also that.
But a big drawback is the wait time for an initial apt if it isnt an emergency. I do find though once your in 'the system' you get scheduled apts fairly regularly

s c

Wed, Feb 10 2021, 5:49 am

My husband had a top surgeon and his team with bupa in an operation that lasted around 11 hours which is doubtful he would have got on the NHS and definitely not at that speed and his whole treatment in total came to way over 100k. All done in a private hospital. So that has not been my experience at all. They have not refused us treatment as a family over the years. We don't use them for smaller one off apps for minor issues as its just not worth it.

amother

Purple

Wed, Feb 10 2021, 10:33 am

That is interesting. Bh you had the ability to go private. I guess then it depends on all the different factors. This was a relative of mine, and that is definitely what she was told. It wasnt that they refused her treatment, she had her own doctors perform the surgery, but they did it at the nhs hospital. I went to visit her after the surgery, it was nhs hospital, but in a private ward. All before care and after care was in the private hospital. This was a number of years ago though so maybe things have changed.
I've also experienced family members having surgery on the nhs, and again other than the wait time for the initial apt, and not choosing the doctor, the whole process was so smooth, and the care was fantastic.

amother

Mistyrose

Wed, Feb 10 2021, 10:37 am

Of course you can get treatment privately!!! But a lot of chronic issues they will not cover for, even when the nhs happily will. The nhs will never leave a patient untreated. Even if the treatment is tens of thousands they will do it, but insurance will often not if it will be recurring and continuous.

One off they are almost always going to cover, I was referring to chronic continuous conditions.