It’s not. Of course the doctors and nurses don’t work for free (and neither should they). They’re just paid by the NHS instead of the patient. And the NHS of course is paid for by taxes.
And it turns out the government effectively running health care lets them negotiate for you a lot better than you can “negotiate” on your own after getting out of the ER.
Sure, turns out that when you have a government monopoly on healthcare, you can pretty much just dictate the prices for every prescription or procedure.
Whether that results in better service however is an entirely different question – after all, why should doctors or nurses work extra hard if they’re going to be paid the same either way?
I don’t know how it works in the UK, but in Sweden there’s a pretty steep progression for doctors and nurses where performance translates to better titles, schedules and significantly better pay. A specialist nurse is quite well compensated.
For the average person it’s pretty great. If you have something minor in the grand scheme of injuries you may have to wait a few hours to be seen, but if it’s serious you’re seen right away. In both cases you go home without having to pay anything at all.
Where it really fails is helping people with chronic illnesses. There’s still a lot of denial about women’s health issues especially so getting diagnosed with something can be impossible if your doctor decides “it’s all in your head”.
MacNCheezus@lemmy.today 2 days ago
It’s not. Of course the doctors and nurses don’t work for free (and neither should they). They’re just paid by the NHS instead of the patient. And the NHS of course is paid for by taxes.
Serinus@lemmy.world 2 days ago
And it turns out the government effectively running health care lets them negotiate for you a lot better than you can “negotiate” on your own after getting out of the ER.
MacNCheezus@lemmy.today 2 days ago
Sure, turns out that when you have a government monopoly on healthcare, you can pretty much just dictate the prices for every prescription or procedure.
Whether that results in better service however is an entirely different question – after all, why should doctors or nurses work extra hard if they’re going to be paid the same either way?
mirshafie@europe.pub 2 days ago
I don’t know how it works in the UK, but in Sweden there’s a pretty steep progression for doctors and nurses where performance translates to better titles, schedules and significantly better pay. A specialist nurse is quite well compensated.
Serinus@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Oh, you think all that money goes to doctors and nurses now?
Photonic@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I always heard the NHS was a totals shitshow
Charzard4261@programming.dev 2 days ago
For the average person it’s pretty great. If you have something minor in the grand scheme of injuries you may have to wait a few hours to be seen, but if it’s serious you’re seen right away. In both cases you go home without having to pay anything at all.
Where it really fails is helping people with chronic illnesses. There’s still a lot of denial about women’s health issues especially so getting diagnosed with something can be impossible if your doctor decides “it’s all in your head”.