Reply #78: Or the middle class... [View All]

as my EX-father in law was. He needed heart surgery. Quadruple bypass. They were telling him the wait list was going to be 8 months for this very necessary surgery. So, he went private and paid for the surgery. (Still a lot cheaper than the USA... I think it was about 25,000 GBP.) He had the surgery in three weeks, and he is still healthy 8 years later. (Though I am no longer with his son.)

It's not just the wealthy who take advantage of that. He is from a ship-buiding town in Cumbria. (Barrow-in-Furness.) He's definitely on the lower scale of the middle class, and used much of his savings for the surgery. But, he was happy to have the surgery over with quicker. Even though he had the same doctors and care that he would have had if he didn't go private, he had a much quicker surgery. If he had waited, he may not have been as lucky.