"Americans have the best care in the world (for those with decent insurance)"

I don't think I have ever heard that claim before. I am American, had very good insurance through my employers when I was living in the US, and routinely experienced mediocre care. But I didn't have anything to compare it to at the time. After I moved overseas and experienced excellent healthcare I know better.

It focused on treatment and seeing a specialist.

"Oh, you need a specialist. You will get a letter for an appointment in about 4 months." 4 months later when you go see the specialist, he decides he needs an MRI to diagnose. Wait another 3 months for the scan.

Unless you are literally dying right now, this is the reality of many health care systems. This scenario is about 3x more common in national health plan systems than in insurance based ones.

The important thing about the NHS is that funding is allocated to regional trusts, which are up to a point responsible for raising their own funds from public and sometimes private money. The result is that funding is subject to what is colloquially known as the "Postcode lottery".

In other words, if you are in an affluent area with a well-funded NHS trust, you will receive prompt and plentiful care whenever you need it and for whatever reason you need it. Less affluent areas must prioritise to meet their budget constraints, so they will indeed make you wait for a long time, unless there is an emergency.

So, reports in the (non-UK) media that claim that it may take "4 months" to be seen by GP or a specialist doctor unless you're dying, etc, are a) exaggerated and b) don't take into account the regional differences in service, which can be very pronounced.

It is laughable and these people are delusional. I literally can get all appointments within a day in South Korea for affordable prices.

> Americans have the best care in the world

I've been reading that a lot, but I can't find any decisive evidence supporting it - what leads you to think that?

Arrogance.

About costs of treatment:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthan...

This source says 2x as much: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/26746...

Yeah, I didn't find my old source, it was a news article I remembered that compared spending per capita and typical time to treat a condition.

I did find this though that says 2x:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2674671