UK and US Health System

healthcareThe healthcare system in the UK and USA both have similarities where the public pays for their healthcare, but both have a completely different system. To understand the similarities and difference between the systems, it’s essential to know how they work in both countries.

United Kingdom

United Kingdom has its own public healthcare known as the NHS (National Health Service). People from other countries may be under the impression that the UK’s health system is free for all UK citizens, which is true however it’s not entirely the case. The British system does believe that healthcare is a right for everyone. Although the care is publicly available to all UK citizens, it is paid through tax by every British citizen in the UK. So technically it’s not entirely free. If you’re curious about how much tax is paid, it’s normally 9% of the income which is still quite a significant amount. Furthermore, NHS follows many health standard guidelines and procedures when carrying out their practice.

United States

In the USA, the health care system is run privately. US citizens will either need to sign up to pay for a monthly health plan with their chosen private care or pay the overall cost using their own money when it’s needed. Although the monthly plans are reasonably affordable, the plan doesn’t always cover the total cost which means that they may need to pay a portion of the total cost when using the service. Because the system is run privately, each company will have different plans that cover different procedures. With regards to the standards of care, the USA system follows similar health guidelines in the UK.

Overall, it seems that the UK health system has more advantage compared to the US system. For instance, in the UK, the tax payment will cover any care that you need, unlike in the US, some of the services will still require you to pay extra even when you have signed up for a monthly care plan.

Differences In The British And American Legal Systems

Although the legal systems in the UK and the USA originally started out based on the same set of rules, they have diverged over the years and have since become quite different to one another, although there are some interesting parallels.

States and constituent countries

Some rules apply to the entire United Kingdom while other matters may be settled differently depending on the law in the constituent country (England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland). In a similar way, the US government dictates federal law while each of the individual states has varied laws and rules within that.

Legal authority

The two countries are not dissimilar in terms of how past legal cases can be used to set a precedent for a current case. Past judgements are referred to regularly in both court systems in order to make difficult decisions.

For other matters, US courts may refer to Congress, which is made up of the Senate (two representatives per state) and the House of Representatives (a proportionate number of representatives for each state’s population). Congress is comparable to the Houses of Parliament in the UK, where MPs (members of parliament) represent regions all over the country. In each case, new laws are debated and decided by these authorities.

Different court systems

In both countries, there is a distinction between courts that deal with smaller, usually civil cases and more serious criminal cases. In the USA, federal courts can deal with either type, while UK cases are subject to a more complicated system starting from Crown Court, escalating to the Courts of Appeals if needed, and finally a Supreme Court.

There is also a parallel court system for particular types of disputes called a tribunal system, which does not have an American equivalent as such. Cases in the US may alternatively be resolved via arbitration, which is a less formal and less expensive alternative to a traditional court case.

Lawyers and law school

In the UK, lawyers must follow up their law degree with further education, but in the US only the initial qualification and bar exam are necessary to move into any particular field of law. After qualifying, lawyers would often be known as “solicitors” or “barristers” in the UK while the US term is “attorney.” In either case, lawyers are likely to be referred to with respect to their area of expertise.