According to UK Government Spending.Com & US Government Spending.Com, the two lines above represent the amounts the UK and USA governments will spend of tax payers' money on healthcare from 2001-2015. Those eager to add private individual health spend on top of that, I'd ask you not to for this analysis since we are solely concerned with state spending on healthcare. Also, those keen to add bits of military spending onto either UK or USA to bump up either figures a little, I'd ask you not to. Let's stick with what each state designates as healthcare spending instead of massaging the figures to suit your own interests.
The graph shows that within 100 weeks of today the United States of America will spend more of its GDP (economic output) on state healthcare than the UK. Now, this is just a proportion of GDP, so for those of you who might say "ah but the American economy is bigger", it does not work like that. If you spend £10 of a £100, and I spend £100 of a £1,000, we have both spent the same proportion ie. 10%. That is why health experts and world economists prefer to use the "as a % of GDP" measurement. It is the best way of doing international comparisons.
And so there we have it. Our once proud NHS will be overtaken by the much ridiculed US State Health Care system in terms of state spending on its citizens health as a percentage of GDP. In less than 100 weeks an American sick person, especially a poor one, can be confident of greater financial state aid for their medical bill, than one of our own right here.This is one of the many reasons that health campaigners regard the NHS as all but dead.
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