# UK 'dopers...tell me your thoughts about the NHS

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-tell-me-your-thoughts-about-the-nhs/808260>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [February 5, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-tell-me-your-thoughts-about-the-nhs/808260 "2018-02-05T20:53:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 13

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**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-tell-me-your-thoughts-about-the-nhs/808260/242 "2018-03-02T20:44:07Z")

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> [@Ximenean](#):
>
> **up\_the\_junction** , to the extent that I can make sense of what you posted, I don’t see how it addresses anything I have posted above. I am not making or implying any point about the appropriate level of public healthcare spending in the UK. I simply questioned the assertion that public healthcare costs Swiss employees more, relative to their income, than it does British people.

You’re not “simply” doing anything. You seem to have included some of your very own “simple” maths - creating a GDP expenditure unknown by some measure to the rest of the world, including the OECD and other internationally respected independent analysts.

I hope you can make sense of that.

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**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-tell-me-your-thoughts-about-the-nhs/808260/243 "2018-03-02T21:37:55Z")

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> [@up\_the\_junction](#):
>
> You’re not “simply” doing anything. You seem to have included some of your very own “simple” maths - creating a GDP expenditure unknown by some measure to the rest of the world, including the OECD and other internationally respected independent analysts.
> 
> I hope you can make sense of that.

You seem preoccupied with GDP, but **bob++**'s post and my response to it were talking about salaries. He said that 10% of salaries (not GDP) in Switzerland went towards healthcare, implying that that was a higher proportion than in the UK. I argued that roughly the same proportion of salaries in the UK went towards public healthcare.

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**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-tell-me-your-thoughts-about-the-nhs/808260/244 "2018-03-03T05:57:05Z")

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Ignore me - sorry.

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**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-tell-me-your-thoughts-about-the-nhs/808260/245 "2018-03-03T06:32:33Z")

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> [@Ximenean](#):
>
> He said that 10% of salaries (not GDP) in Switzerland went towards healthcare, implying that that was a higher proportion than in the UK. I argued that roughly the same proportion of salaries in the UK went towards public healthcare.

I did some [back-of-an-envelope calculations on this in a similar thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20272571&postcount=19). Unlikely to be 10% of any income below stratospheric levels. Don’t forget corporate taxation and employers’ National Insurance contributions.

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