from healthcare my career is in the crapper. shaggydave | 7.25.09 @ 10:20PM A point about medicare/medicaid, the government is way, way behind in paying money they owe to hospitals. Meanwhile the hospital still has bills that they need to pay, and our creditors don't wait until we get paid for us to pay them. Guess who the hospital has to shaft just to stay afloat? Hey there Sputnik-I get it that you described a decent experience with you Brit socialized system which does in fact seem fairly stream-lined. However, you didn't actually have a serious problem that required extensive care or costly investigation. What you described certainly sounds similar to the health care I have through an employer partial-payment plan. I will say that I am very happy with my health care plan and gladly pay the weekly cost as I know I will be taken care of even in dire situations. My understanding is that the system in England does not provide dialysis for people with kidney problems over the age of 55. This is unheard of in the U.S. on any system. We have a very compassionate care system and even health care providers that involve allot of red tape are still very good at making sure treatments are available and timely. My wife is a Russian citizen by birth and she is very paranoid of Doctors and Dentists due to this. It took me several years of convincing and some exceptionally good local Doctors and Dentists