Lol. It’s not like the doctors are dumber or do poorer quality work when it’s socialized. I doubt having $1k skimmed by some middleman got you better care than we’d get in Canada.

So, it works for some people, but overall it’s a pretty shitty system.

I just don't understand why it's a binary choice, either free care of good care. My own experience with the NHS has been stellar, the standard of care I have received(and still receive) is incredible. Everyone is very friendly and I get all my meds and treatment for free. My father has fought cancer for 9 years, during that time he had multiple operations and years of Glivec supplied to him free of charge, the only complaint he's ever had was that they would only reimburse him for 2nd class train ticket when going to the hospital for an operation, even though driving was more expensive.

But the thing is - if I or him ever wanted to(for some reason) to go private, that's still an option. Private insurance with private doctors and hospitals is also available. In US you don't really have any option other than going private.

Coming from Germany and now living in Denmark, I have full confidence in the systems here to handle it equally well (maybe with less than 8 people in a room though).

End result would be roughly the same.

In some parts of the country it may be a longer wait than others. The NHS generally though are very good when you visit with very young children.

I've been twice to Danish hospitals, and I think the experience is very comparable. The staff in Copenhagen seemed kinder (a bit more time to reassure the patient etc) but otherwise there wasn't much difference.

I trust both countries in 2015, and Denmark in 2020. I don't know what's happened in Britain since 2015. My family aren't complaining (at least, no more than the usual British amount), but the British people keep voting against their interests.

And that is one of the many reasons why US healthcare is so expensive. I live in Sweden now, and many of the 'minor' things a doctor would handle in US is handled by nurses here. Personally I've never felt this to be a problem at all, but I know many people in the US feel very uncomfortable about that idea.

Is the implication that UK hospitals provide lesser care than their (costly) american counterparts?

But as a parent, it is YOUR 3 year old so you want the absolute best for them. The end result, I believe, would have been exactly the same had it happened here or in the US. Just I had a lot more confidence (at the time) seeing just how much was being done to ensure there was no scarring.