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> We pay for our national health insurance too and probably comparable to what Americans pay for their private. To clarify something, in the UK there are two m
by jstx1 5y ago
> We pay for our national health insurance too and probably comparable to what Americans pay for their private.
To clarify something, in the UK there are two main deductions on personal income - income tax and National Insurance. National Insurance doesn't pay for healthcare, it pays for things like state pension and other support benefits - https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance/what-national-insurance-is-for https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance/what-national-insuranc.... The National Health Service (NHS) is funded through taxes.
- shetill 5y agothanks for clarifying I always thought NI contributes to NHS. Shame that it's not, makes sense now why NHS is in this state...
- jstx1 5y agoIt also makes you wonder about NI itself. Have a look at what you're paying every month and how much you'll actually get for your state pension - it doesn't seem remotely worth it. And I get that it's a social service and it should cover the benefits for people who don't contribute - but it's a lot of money to pay for something you don't benefit from yourself.
- dogma1138 5y agoNHS has access to some NI funding too about 20% of the NHS budget today comes from national insurance but oddly enough often in the forms of “loans” https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/nhs-in-a-nutshell/how-nhs-funded https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/nhs-in-a-nutshell/how-... National Insurance is also de facto a payroll tax in the UK and a pretty steep one at that it will be over 15% come April if the NIC increases are implemented as is.