SAAFE forum
General Category => Blather and Babble => Topic started by: UrbaneAspects on 08 September 2009, 10:45:49 pm
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This being in terms of cost factor and such. Not sure if y'all are like Canada and Sweden with free healthcare ???
I'll be more specific, say if I went there to tour for awhile and needed medical attention at some point, Are there walk-in clinics? Would it be advised to go to something like that or do y'all some other type of program used?
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For dental what happens if you need urgant dental care and you do not have an nhs dentist is that you can go to a walk in centre normally located in the hospital. Its a sit and wait system and can only be used for dental emergancies ie lots of pain, lost tooth etc. NHS charges depend on the complexity of the treatment. For example a filling is a simple process and costs approx ?16. Now you can go in there needed loads of fillings and be there for ages and still only get charged ?16 it then has a category for mediam complexity treatments and high complexity.
With regards to health care if you need emergancy treatment then you can go to the hospital and you don't get charged (thats why we pay tax's!), there are also loads of walk in centres about too. Now if you go to England then you have to pay for prescriptions but you dont in Scotland and Wales (do have to pay to go over the bridge to get in the damn country but hey ho)
So you starting to really think seriously about coming over to the UK for a bit then. My god you will get mobbed by the girlies!
Kisses
Amber
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Healthcare is provided by the government and is free at the point of use to legal residents. Since you'd be a visitor you'd be charged for treatment, but that's why you get travel insurance. I'm making the assumption that travel insurance in the US works in much the same way as it does here, in which case it'll be much simpler to organise than health insurance while you're at home!
If you need emergency treatment you'll get it, no-one's ever asked about payment before that kind if intervention is made. For emergencies you go to the nearest A&E department. For non-emergency stuff there are drop-in centres in some places. Where there's no drop-in centre I'm not sure how you get to see a doctor if you're not registered with a local GP, in that situation I'd call the nearest doctor's surgery and ask. If they can't see you they should know who can.
Dental care is not free. There's still an NHS scheme but I think every regular surgery routinely does private work, so you just need to find someone who can fit you in, turn up and pay. Private dental treatment varies in cost depending where you are (everyone I know who's had root canal work in London had to pay about ?400, while 60 miles away and in a city almost as expensive to live in, my dentist charges ?165).
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An NHS dentist cannot refuse to see you if you are in pain, much the same as a midwife cant refuse to see you if you are in labour. As far as sexual health goes you dont even have to give your real name so unlikely to get a bill for that. For a treatment centre for medical just pick up the yellow pages or dial 118 500, get a doctors number and call it out of hours. The answer phone will provide the number of the nearest drop in centre or google NHS direct to get advice/number. Insurance for non EEC residents as far as I know, you pay up front and claim it back when you get home but keep reciepts.
If all else fails, call me. I have plasters, bandages and asprin!
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I wouldn't be too sure he doesn't get charged, I know that if I go to the UK, I need to bring a separate paper that says I am a EU citizen and thus entitled (because I pay for free healthcare through taxes in my country) to get it.
There would be some system in place, otherwise people who do need urgent surgery but can't afford it would just visit the UK.
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You best get travel insurance as your coming from America you will have to pay for that. If you were coming from an EU country you apply for a free medical insurance card and you would get whatever you needed free as long as you have the card on your person.
The dentists here are not as good as the ones in America Joey. They are also very expensive in my opinion - the cheapest around here for a checkup only is 50.00 which is crazy.
If you get NHS treatment, (if your resident here and your income is below a certain amount or your age is lower than 18 or your a student/pregnant/a pensioner) then it's free to get a checkup yes, free to get your fillings and treatment.
However, finding a dentist that sees NHS patients is like the proverbial needle in a haystack, even for children who are absolutely and rightfully so entitled to free dentist care.
We had to go on a 2 year long waiting list to see a NHS dentist here, that is my children had to wait that long, for a checkup!! Now they are on the dentist list and get their checkups but, they refuse to give out white fillings or even, I got told the other week, let you pay for your child to have the white filling, they have to have the standard bloody metal coloured ones. I am yet to find a private dentist that will see children around here, I can not believe that one! No children, only adults so my hunt for a white filling for my child goes on....
The NHS is a great idea but it's slow and has silly rules of what you can and can not have done. Having said that, the cost of paying for your entire family to see the dentist twice a year for checkups and God forbid having work done would be crippling, so, it's the rough with the smooth perhaps?
x
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OMG ?50 for a checkup? In Wales?? Like I said the prices vary, and it sounds like the whole situation in Swansea is crazy.
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OMG ?50 for a checkup?
But believe it or not, it cost about that much to have a checkup here too. When I needed an exam to fix a chip, I was charged for the X-rays and bitewigs....from what I believe it came up to about $60. I am going to take care of this once and for all in a couple weeks and get my crown LOL.
But travel insurance? Thats something I didnt know of. Now I feel more at ease :) but I havent checked how much it is :-\
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Hi Joey,
Glad to hear your plans for a trip to the UK are coming to fruition!
I took a course a few years ago in selling insurance so I might have a few pearls to scatter. I believe that travel insurance only covers emergency treatment sufficient to repatriate you home or patch you up enough to continue with your trip. My understanding is that your US medical insurance may cover you for trips abroad hence why you might not be familiar as we in the UK are, with taking out travel insurance. Do check though as the cost of emergency medical insurance could potentially be prohibitive. Your travel insurance (as with policies bought in the UK for UK residents) won't cover existing medical conditions in general, nor will it cover you for general check ups whilst outside of your home country.
Whilst we're on the subject, it's a little known part of most policies that if you travel to the airport by public transport and are delayed and miss your plane, you're covered, if you're in any form of private transport (including a taxi) and in the same traffic jam, you're not covered.
Hope this helps.
Lilly x
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But believe it or not, it cost about that much to have a checkup here too. When I needed an exam to fix a chip, I was charged for the X-rays and bitewigs....from what I believe it came up to about $60.
I have no trouble believing that anything health-related is overpriced in the US, but $50 isn't the same as ?50. I'm also surprised because Wales is one of the poorer bits of the country. Less so in the big cities, but still.
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I am really sorry I forgot to put in my post about charges for non uk nationals didnt mean to give you wrong info. thanks ladies for putting me right!
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Joey - Have you seen the film 'Sicko' about health care ?
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Swansea has it's poor areas yes but overall the standard of living here is higher than anywhere else in Wales.
It's because we have the Gower and the beaches and Mumbles...
If you want a flat in the Marina your looking at prices that have outstripped Cardiff for the newer towers they have built.
We are the base for the Coastguard and the Uni is the only on-site Uni for Marine life studies.
Amazon and big names like that have moved into the docks area and are expanding only a year after moving there.
We have wildlife reserves and theme parks not far away, huge ones like Alton Towers.
Tourism is rife here and all year long, it's hell on the roads, hell.
Our motorway has 7 junctions off it into Swansea which even surprises me as I view Swansea as a small place complared to big cities.
It's bigger here than people imagine I guess.
Mumbles, Caswell, Langland, Three Cliffs, Llangeneth, Uplands, Sketty, West Cross, numerous other areas here, the houses are massive, huge and cost enough to rob you off a good lottery win.
There are enough people here that will happily pay 50.00 to have their teeth checked.
That said, nobody come here to shop in the city as it's an absolute bloody dive.
There is millions being spent on it currently but it's a 10 year project..... We have massive out of town shopping centres, they are huge and there are lots of them.
All the private care dentists make a small fortune here. If one is charging that much for a checkup you can bet they will all do it.
Some of our council houses here are very large and very lovely as well.
Of course you have your no go area's, they are in every city but here the council houses and estates seem to be quite well run and kept.
It's overall not a bad place to live I think, for the scenery.
Life here is not centred around the city that's the thing, it's centred around the coasts and the city.
Manchester is centred around Manchester and is indeed bigger than Swansea but because we have the coast and it's so bloody lovely and the beaches are numerous Swansea is considered the better area of Wales to live in.
I feel very lucky to live so close to the sea but I don't actually like Swansea as in the place away from the sea.
I can't afford to buy a house here.
I can't afford to park my car in a car park here it is that bad.
Interestingly, Swansea is the car crime capital of the Uk and also the wettest place in the Uk.
Go figure why anybody would want to live here knowing those two facts ;)
x
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Joey - Have you seen the film 'Sicko' about health care ?
I did. What an eye-opener. Give me the NHS any day.
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Joey - Have you seen the film 'Sicko' about health care ?
I did. What an eye-opener. Give me the NHS any day.
Great film, My fav is when you hear the tape of Nixon discussing the health care plans and they basically say 'the genius thing is we're going to give them LESS care, it's run for profit!' and he basically goes 'good stuff, we'll sell treating the sick as communist unless they have a good bank loan'
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Great film, My fav is when you hear the tape of Nixon discussing the health care plans and they basically say 'the genius thing is we're going to give them LESS care, it's run for profit!' and he basically goes 'good stuff, we'll sell treating the sick as communist unless they have a good bank loan'
Remember the woman who suffered from asthma post 9/11? $200 for an inhaler which she got for $7 in Cuba. Or the old geezer at the beginning of the movie who had to choose which finger to sew back on, after he lost two of them in a sawing accident.
Topically, President Obama has suffered a big dip in popularity this week as he tries to reform American healthcare. Good for him for sticking to his guns.
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However, finding a dentist that sees NHS patients is like the proverbial needle in a haystack, even for children who are absolutely and rightfully so entitled to free dentist care.
We had to go on a 2 year long waiting list to see a NHS dentist here, that is my children had to wait that long, for a checkup!!
Part of the problem is the NHS contract with the dentists pays them less than some of them think they should have to do various bits of work: 'we can't do it properly for this money, so we're not going to it at all'.
Even so, your local PCT should absolutely be contracting sufficient dental services - with an election coming soon, MPs and candidates are going to be particularly sensitive about health issues like this. Kick up a fuss.
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Topically, President Obama has suffered a big dip in popularity this week as he tries to reform American healthcare. Good for him for sticking to his guns.
There is a huge amount of money for some people to lose, and they don't like it.
One of the leaders of an anti-reform 'astroturf' - something that pretends to look like a genuine grassroots organisation, but is fake - used to head a health provider that was fined over a billion dollars for systematic over-charging.
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Just to let y'all know, Im reading this. All very helpful, I just cant seem to comment as I dont know much about healthcare :-[
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There is a huge amount of money for some people to lose, and they don't like it.
One of the leaders of an anti-reform 'astroturf' - something that pretends to look like a genuine grassroots organisation, but is fake - used to head a health provider that was fined over a billion dollars for systematic over-charging.
And the irony is that millions of Americans are in medical debt trying to pay their bills off.
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And the irony is that millions of Americans are in medical debt trying to pay their bills off.
you could not have said it any better. And my next major dental procedure is going to be coming out of pocket :(