Musings on Healthcare from the United Kingdom

I am in the UK this week working on a new healthcare joint venture for my company. Within the EU, the UK represents the third largest market by drug spend (23B) and with an openness to cost containment, interest in clinical quality, our business plan as a lot to offer the 60 million inhabitants.

Unfortunately from a policy stand point it was a tough week to launch a "US Model". The US town hall fights included a jab the the UK system. A Financial Times article reported this weekend that "Daniel Hannan, a Conservative member of the European parliament has spoken out against the NHS, saying he, ‘wouldn’t wish it on anybody’ because of its far from perfect waiting lists and survival rates." His comments were in support of similar conservative movements (mostly) in the US bashing the UK as a scare tactic. This incited many in the UK who are proud and happy with their model of healthcare.

Regardless of opinion, this is a common perception in the UK. Read the Independent Article.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-brutal-truth-about-americarsquos-healthcare-1772580.html

Despite the public fight across the pond, as I pitch our business to the NHS (third largest employer in the world) many have said to me "aren't you the country with 47mm uninsured". Almost laughing they were dying to know what the Americans could share. Ironically it wasn't too long ago that the UK had 40+mm uninsured and a similar problem. They fixed it by introducing the NHS.

So my learning from this week is to be informed, humble and strategic about how our company (or any of us in research) helps the UK healthcare system. For me"reform" should mean less cost as a starting point NOT more. We clearly have a lot of waste.

Health spending as a share of GDP. Take away: we are not getting a good ROI in the US.
US 16% vs. UK 8.4%
Public spending on healthcare. Take away: Healthcare in the UK is not free.
US 45% vs UK82%
Health spending per head. Take away: There is a way to do this more cheaply and effectively.
US $7,290 vs UK $2,992

Cheers! Meg