{"id":615496,"date":"2026-06-01T16:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/615496\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T16:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:20:12","slug":"beware-insurance-based-healthcare-my-children-taught-me-its-risky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/615496\/","title":{"rendered":"Beware insurance-based healthcare: my children taught me it\u2019s risky"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I know from experience that Reform\u2019s proposal for an insurance-based NHS won\u2019t fix anything. Let me explain.<\/p>\n

In 2008, we lost our first child. A busy GP missed an infection after we told her the symptoms and she sent us home. The situation spiralled out of control, leading us to A&E a few weeks later.<\/p>\n

There are no words to describe the sadness and anger I felt seeing my first-born take her first and last breath. It was easier to blame the NHS than accept my own failings. We moved to near my childhood home in the US hoping for a better outcome.<\/p>\n

Healthcare in the US<\/p>\n

Teaching in the US offers roughly equivalent pay to the UK (or so I naively thought). I earned \u00a335k as a secondary school teacher, and in the US I found a job doing the same for $35k (about \u00a322k).<\/p>\n

The first thing I had to choose was an insurance plan. Like car or pet insurance, you chose private plans based on the services you need and how much you can afford. My wife was pregnant again, so I chose the best I could get. It cost about $300 per month through my employer which seemed comparable to the NHS. I was wrong.<\/p>\n

At first, it was amazing. They caught the same issue my firstborn had early on. Each check-up cost us $75 (on top of the $300 for the plan itself). He was born very early, but had the best care at the time. We had advocated for it knowing full well what might happen if we didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Where the US system fails<\/p>\n

Then the bills piled up. First it was $1500 for the ambulance to the hospital, then it was for the c-section, doctor visits and so on. Thankfully, insurance covered the costs over time \u2026 for the most part. The emotional roller coaster during those months was intense. Because I had no way to pay for the thousands the insurance wouldn\u2019t pay for, I became a detective, scouring through insurance documents for escape clauses. It worked, but my time became divided between work (I had no paternity leave), insurance companies and visits to the hospital.<\/p>\n

I was open with my students about what was happening. Using data from the nurses to teach lines of best fit in maths, I showed them how to make predictions when my son would come home. Kids started telling me stories of their own health experiences. One broke his arm years prior, and he showed me how it was still bent oddly. His family was uninsured and couldn\u2019t afford the hospital. So they set it at home.<\/p>\n

There are programmes available for people who can\u2019t afford insurance, but they\u2019re limited, difficult to obtain and what they cover varies wildly. The effort involved is immense, especially for those dealing with unaddressed health challenges. Doctors will still determine what care you need, but insurance companies will decide if they\u2019ll pay for it, making care more difficult to access.<\/p>\n

It became clear that my son needed more help, and we had to choose between food, heating or getting him the doctor appointments he needed. Each $75 doctor visit strained our bank account. We had to choose who in my growing family would get the care and who would not. Each year, costs increased while my pay remained the same. The trap was closing: even with the best insurance we could no longer afford healthcare.<\/p>\n

Returning to the UK<\/p>\n

Insurance sounds like a good idea at first. It can handle extreme events well but sneaks in charges and denials of care for everything else. In the absence of an NHS-like system, the attitude becomes everyone-for-themselves, with little of those funds investing back into the system. Costs spiral as providers and doctors charge more to offset the system\u2019s inefficiencies and insurance companies protect their profits. Everyone becomes reactive to health issues instead of proactive, especially those on lower incomes.<\/p>\n

We returned to the UK where my son was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and he received the care he needed after a short waiting list. I have endless thanks to the countless physical therapists and consultants we saw over the years (with no hidden costs outside of parking). Thanks to the NHS, you wouldn\u2019t know he has the condition today. We\u2019ve since had two more children and were looked after very well.<\/p>\n

Lessons learned<\/p>\n

I took the wrong lesson with our first child. The NHS deserves more funding to help increase the number of GPs and surgeries to improve patient loads. I let one overwhelmed doctor with an unsustainable backlog drive me to insurance-based care, but that broken system drove me back. Insurance won\u2019t fix the NHS. It\u2019s a trap.<\/p>\n

More<\/a> from East Anglia Bylines\"\"<\/a>Truth is power<\/p>\n

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