Socialized Medicine...

It isn't our government necessarily; it is in the nature of bureaucracies.
Which is one of the reasons why centralized, planned economies are inefficient and wasteful.

 

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well sometimes it just seems that way

I was referring to the fact that it seemed so natural , an everyday situation

for sure , as the saying goes there is no such thing as a free lunch ,
taxes are used to pay for it all , but individual companies don't have to provide cover for their employees , as General motor point out , a big advantage
There is wastage and it's not perfect but it work reasonably well ,there is way less law suits too
if the government is trusted to run defense it should be capable to run health
in the U.S. of A socialism is a dirty word associated with bolchevism,
in the rest of the world social democracy is the model for most of the time
it's pretty much the middle ground .


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Going back to the original question, in my experience it doesn't work fantastically well.

My own experience of being in hospital was of having to pay for a taxi to A&E (Initially NHS direct wanted me to drive there with a burst appendix!) because the ambulances were busy. Being moved from ward to ward every three or four days as the hospital manager shuffled bed spaces and created room overnight even in what during the day was waiting rooms (To the point that the consultant looking after me by his own admission lost me) and where we had to be moved before the day patients arrived in the morning.

Afterwards, on at least two occasions the community nurse forgot to visit me (This was to change dressings on an open wound) and despite having paid for my healthcare already through my National Insurance contributions, I found myself paying around £6.50 an item for each dressing, pain killer, anti-inflamatory, etc that I'd been prescribed (Regardless of how much they actually cost). It may not sound like too much, but it quickly mounts up, and is especially irritating when you're supposed to have "Free" health care.

It's annoying for me, whilst the operation and staff were with one exception great and without wishing to seem melodramatic I owe my life to them, the system they work under was to me clearly overstretched.

Patients should not have to argue with ward sisters in the early hours of the morning over whether they should be moved again or not, patients should not have to pay for dressings and essential drugs - these are as much a part of your health care (to me) as anaesthetic - under a system where you're supposed to have free healthcare, patients should not have to pay for taxis because ambulances are busy.

That said, I didn't die, I was well fed and reasonably comfortable. For that much I'm greatful.

Rant over...

We have free dental care too, which is great.

Except few people can get it because there are so few Dentists willing to take on additional NHS dental cases, your only option despite the fact you've already paid for your "Free" dental care is to stump up the extra and pay to go private.

 

I personally prefer to keep the American health care system the way it is. Flawed it may be, but I haven't seen anything that really works any better anywhere else.