Having lived in the USA for 20 years and recently returned to the UK, the idea of imposing a U.S. system here is morally abhorant to me.
Health care for profit (insurance companies and medical providers) drives costs up, not down. No job, no healthcare. Private healthcare ranges from $500 to $2,000 per month for an individual. $500 per month is for very basic coverage for emergency situations, buts excludes chemotherapy if you get cancer and lots of other essential services including ambulances.
I have friends that have been made redundant since 2008 and are in debt to pay for their insurance premium, $3,000 per year is a lot when you have no income.
Government statistics (US Congress) report that 18,000 people per year die purely for lack of healthcare. That's equivalent of six 9/11 events each year.
Anyone faced with a critical illness or injury from accident without healthcare is faced with financial devastation - I have friends that have been directly affected.
My father-in-law spent a week in intensive care before he died, and my mother-in-law got a bill for $100,000 and that did not include the doctors fees, that was just for the stay, supplies and nursing care. The NHS hospitals here would put the ward he was on to shame - it was no 5 star room like you see on TV.
My brother-in-law went to the Emergency Room (A&E) with stomach pains, waited four hours, saw a doctor for 5 minutes who sent him home with some antacid medication, and he got a bill for $4,000.
For myself, I was denied two operations by my insurer and medication because it was too expensive and I had a good job with good coverage. When I came back to the UK, I got my medication immediately from the NHS and had both my operations sorted.
The NHS is the jewel in the British crown. No matter what it costs it needs to be funded, and if that means higher taxes, etc, then so be it.
People in the U.S. live in fear of losing their job/healthcare and losing their assets and homes as a result.
U.S. healthcare is twice the cost (per capita) of U.K. healthcare with substainially poorer results. Average life span in the U.S. is ten years less than Europe.
