Interesting experiences. I too have had experience with both the U.S. and U.K. and I came away with a much higher opinion of the U.K. I lived in the U.K. for about a year and towards the end of my stay my parents came for a visit. My mother hurt her back getting out of the bath on the weekend. By Monday (a bank holiday Monday) she was bedridden and my landlord suggested we call the hospital. I was very skeptical, having grown up with the U.S. system. I called the local hospital (South London - Herne Hill) and the first thing they asked was whether she was well enough to travel to the hospital. If not, they offered to come to the house. I couldn't believe it. I told them we would get her in a cab and bring her over. Once there, there was no paperwork to fill out, and they saw her right away. After just a few minutes she was given a prescription for a muscle relaxer and a pain-killer. Got another cab to take my folks back to my place, and then I asked the cab driver to take me to the nearest chemist to fill the prescription. Got both prescriptions filled for about $16. I tipped the cabbie handsomely when he dropped me at my place. He asked me, "Do you know how much you are giving me here?" I told him I did, and that it was because I was having a great day. In the U.S. I would have had to have taken her to an emergency room. That would have taken 4 to 12 hours of my day and cost her about $500 copayment. Then the drugs would have cost another $65 copayment. In the U.K the whole thing took less than an hour portal to portal, and the cost was $20. As others have commented, maybe the U.K. is better for the little things than the big things, but I've got plenty of U.S. horror stories for big things too. I just find it interesting that the U.K. spends significantly less in terms of GDP and they don't have reduced life expectancy than the U.S.