> A health plan like that costs your company 25K/yr on the backend. They pay that as part of your compensation, you just don’t see it.
That's very true, but of course the NHS costs some amount of money on the backend, it's just abstracted away in taxes. The real difference is how much care you get for your money, not* which way of not directly paying for health care is better.
It’s also about predictability: medical bankruptcy is an American phenomenon. The average cost isn’t what worries people, it’s the possibility of having coverage denied, being hit with “out of network” charges like an ambulance taking you to the closest hospital or a specialist showing up at an in-network one, or having your health decline rapidly while you need to get a lawyer to convince your health insurer to pay for treatment your doctor considers necessary. It’s especially about what happens if your health declines to where you cannot work and lose all of the treatment that you’ve setup so far.
That isn't the question in this thread though. The question is if you are on net better in the UK vs the US inclusive of taxes, healthcare expenses and salary differences. You get more for your money in the UK, but if you more than that difference for the same job (net of taxes), you could still come out ahead, as an individual. Society as a whole might be worse on some measures (due to the gaps in coverage for many in the US, or the hassle of the whole thing, the behavioral influences and impact of avoiding preventative care, the risk of falling into a scenario where you aren't covered and the anxiety of that risk). There are many downsides. But if you make enough then at some point that covers those risks. The salary gap has gotten sufficiently high that the break-even appoint seems to be somewhere at middle-level salaries now, not jut the high end.
Not really, the US health system is so broken is just costs more. The system of who pays what is very different, but at the end of the day the cost of healthcare is much higher in US than any other country.
That's very true, but of course the NHS costs some amount of money on the backend, it's just abstracted away in taxes. The real difference is how much care you get for your money, not* which way of not directly paying for health care is better.
* You get more in the UK.