The report from the House of Commons, published Oct. 16, examined the “demand, performance and capacity” of medical services in England through its National Health Service, a single-payer system that has served the public for approximately 80 years.
According to the report, the waiting list for hospital treatment has jumped 40 percent over five years to a record level of 4.5 million waiting for a hospital bed.
“Cancer waiting times have risen,” the report admits, to the point that the goal of treating people within two months of a referral “has not been met consistently since 2013.”
"They have problems pretty frequently," Hadley Heath Manning of the Independent Women's Forum says of the UK. "They've had problems related to women's health. They've had problematic flu seasons where their hospital systems simply cannot accommodate surges in demand."
The new NHS report hits at the same time Democratic presidential candidates are calling for “free” health care for Americans, vowing to crush insurance companies, and declaring the right to see a doctor without pay should be a legal right.
“Democrats believe that health care is a right, not a privilege,” the party website states, “and our health care system should put people before profits.”
The main face of the “free healthcare” push remains Sen. Bernie Sanders, who introduced his Medicare for All bill earlier this year and claims a majority of Americans, including Republicans, support it.
The UK and its NHS are mentioned on a Sanders’ campaign website – but not favorably – because the senator claims he doesn’t support government ownership of hospitals and employment of its doctors and nurses, the website claims.
Manning tells OneNewsNow the UK's health care system is a bureaucratic system that is not “well-suited” to overseeing health care.
“Which has to be responsive to the individual needs of millions of patients," she adds.
According to its own website, England's free health care is not free: 80 percent comes through taxes and 20 percent is funded through National Insurance payments that come from employers, employees, and the self-employed.
"The NHS in England is funded mostly through general taxation and National Insurance contributions," the website summarizes. "A much smaller proportion is collected through patient charges, for things like prescriptions and dentistry."