Their healthcare is better, i'll admit, but ours isn't too bad if you have a decent job.
I don't think it actually is. People act as if "free" automatically equals better. But "free" often means risk averse, slow, or denied care.
Risk averse means they're not going to approve novel or risky therapies even if you want to try them because you don't have other options or want to try something with emerging or newer evidence. For example, new medications, hyperbaric oxygen or certain mitochondrial therapies for cancer, "right to try" in the US etc.
Government health care is looking for slam dunks, not edge cases that aren't guaranteed because they're for one, a strained system, but also don't want to "waste" money on something that is not deemed to be worth the cost based off of their cost benefit analysis.
Slow means sometimes problems are allowed to get worse, or even kill people, due to everyone clogging up the system. Year long wait times (or multi-year) is not unusual in the UK or Canada. That can mean the difference between catching cancer or bowel obstructions or other issues early and them becoming so bad they require more invasive or risky treatments - or it's already too late. I know of people in Canada where there was clearly something wrong but the wait times for an MRI or PET scan were so long the person died while waiting.
Denied care would include situations where resources are already being taken up by other people weighing down NHS, or it's considered "not worth it" to give care and you're left to die. Or in the case of Canada, just offered MAID instead of bothering treating you. NHS this might include putting you on a waiting list hoping you die before they have to do anything.
If you actually look at the US we have some of the best treatment in the world. We have novel therapies (drugs, surgeries, metabolic therapies) that are allowed to find a niche because people who want to pay can get them and multiple payment options not just government insurance. We have some of the best hospitals, best doctors, best surgeons. People travel to the US all the time to get care here for a reason.
People always point towards "you could go bankrupt if you try to get treatment!" but hospitals often have payment plans, cash price, or even a certain number of cases they'll do for free to maintain their status as a nonprofit hospital.
We also have more access to individual led care - primary care providers on the cutting edge who are able to have more freedom by doing direct primary care thus not stuck in the 15 minute appointment model pushed by insurance reimbursement models, out of pocket lab work which can be cheaper than going through insurance anyway, out of pocket scans which can be negotiated down to a cheaper price, etc.
Not to mention newer health share options (religious based or not, both exist) which can offer lower monthly costs for honestly great coverage as long as you're generally healthy.
Dont get me wrong, there's definitely flaws in our system too, and Medicare and medicaid have massive fraud and abuse issues, but at least here you've got options. And because Americans have more disposable income it's more likely you'll have the wiggle room to use some of these options if you want to take advantage of them.
I do mostly out of pocket for everything, barring larger costs like bigger surgeries, and I often pay less than my friends who get the same stuff through insurance. I negotiate cash price or pay out of pocket via direct order companies.
I would not trade my access to American Healthcare for anything. It's invaluable to people looking to take charge of their own health and not just be stuck with what's "approved" and "safe". Or what government insurance decides you should be able to get.
