Letter: Another take on health care, British style

This is a response to the letter: “Been there; don’t scoff at the British medical system,” by Sue Bridwell Beckham, River Falls.

As a British citizen who has lived in the USA for 30 years, let me say the U.S. has the finest health care in the world (if you can afford it). I have been back to the UK almost every year for the last 10 years (my family is still there) and I have some different perspectives.

My American wife and I lived in England in 1975 when a doctor told her the lump in her throat was nothing to worry about.

As a British soldier we were posted to Canada where she got another opinion and an operation for thyroid cancer.

In 2000 my 75-year-old English uncle had cancer of the esophagus and he died with morphine for the pain. Here in the U.S. a friend’s father-in-law had the same diagnosis, he had his esophagus replaced with a plastic one and is still alive.

My sister’s husband waited six months for an elective surgery and when the day came he had a really bad case of the flu so they cancelled and back on the waiting list he went.

They decided to go “private” with BUPA (check it on the Web). It cost money but he went to the front of the queue.

The healthcare in the UK is not as you would believe in all circumstances.

However, if you have no insurance in the USA, the UK healthcare is better than nothing.

Tags: letters to editor, health care system, opinion, politics