I have some questions about how healthcare works in countries with Universal Healthcare, mostly I guess some of the big european countries.
I've tried searching google, and reading wikipedia articles, but I haven't come across answers to a few of my questions.
I'm hoping that in the DK community there is someone out there who knows and can give me some info.
Questions below:
- In these systems, how are the top Doctors compensated for their skill in comparison to normal Doctors? I'm not even 100% sure how this works in the US. I'm guessing that Doctors here charge whatever they want, and the insurance picks up a set amount, and the remainder is paid by the patient. But if you graduate first in your class in the UK, and you can't charge additional money for your services, how are you compensated for being a better doctor?
- I know that there are private healthcare plans in the UK, but from what I have read these appear to be parallel plans to what the government offers. Are there any type of "buy up" insurance plans that people (who can afford to) can purchase to obtain services above the baseline provided by the national plans? i.e. For free you get a standard hospitial room, but with the buy up plan you get a private room, or maybe some treatments are deemed too expensive for the national plan (like many types of cancer treatment) but the buy up plan covers it. Does anything like this exist?
I guess those are really my only questions.... I had a few others but was able to find answers online.
If anyone knows this stuff, I'd be really interested.