yes we do pay for the NHS but its not a great deal really, everytime i have been in hospital the NHS have been fantastic and i have never got ill from been in i have had various ops and 2 c sections with my boys and the nurses and docs that looked after me were first class, people are to quick to judge the NHS and i understand every hospital is different but i think they do a great job

 

I only have experience of our local hospital, compared to one in cyprus ! If i could i'd use the cypriats hospital over ours any day.

Both my kids were born caeserian, and both went wrong, leading to months of constant operations and pain, and to top it off MRSA is a big problem here too, but as said, depends where in the country you are, and wether or not you can aford to pay for private care on top of the monthly National Insurance payments

 

When I was there, I was a student, and fell into some category where I didn't have to pay, I had to wait almost two hours with an appointment in an empty doctor's office, however it was still free.

My own SCHOOL in the states wants to charge me $65 just to see the doctor, I'm like, I can go to ANY urgent care facility off campus, and pay no more than $25. In addition, the insurance coverage I've had my entire life which covers roughly 90-100% of costs (my father's job) of all my medical bills somehow doesn't cover it.

I'm glad people think Obamacare is unconstitutional.

But back to TV licenses and how much they suck!

 

even when you pay waiting times can be anything from 1 hour ~ 10 hours, in the hospitals =S

 

My understanding though is there are no, or very limited commercials on Brit TV? Or is that just BBC channels? One of the reasons the episodes of Top Gear and other BBC shows that are aired here are all chopped up and have some scenes/sections edited out is to fit the US commercials in.

 

No.... We have commercials... far too many, and do your tv's over the pond always double the volume when the commercials are on ? Im forever having to turn the volume up... down... up... down... =S wouldnt mind so much if the remote flamin worked, but i have to get up every time GRRRRR

 

The TV license was originally set up in the UK to pay for the BBC. BBC1, BBC2, and BBC radio. The BBC do not have commercials. We all paid to basically watch the BBC. Then came ITV, Independent Television with commercials. As time went on and we all got digital boxes and Sky TV with countless channels all mostly having commercials we still pay for the BBC.

I don't watch much television. When I do it's usually not the BBC. I'll follow a drama here and there or watch Discovery type channels. So I'm paying £150 a year essentially for a channel I don't watch. We have no choice but to pay this and because it's classed as a form of taxation if I don't pay they can give me a very heavy fine or throw me in prison.

So, to sum up. I pay for a channel I never watch just to stop from going to jail.

 

Don't let us yanks misguide you into thinking that our television is free. Only free channels are over the air channels (local stations usually) and most areas can only pick up 2-3 stations if they don't have cable or satelite. 99% of all channels have commercials to subsidize airtime.

We pay the government to watch TV as well - don't be fooled. We also pay the government to be able to use our telephones. Over here when a cable TV or satelite TV provider bills us, (or telephone, wireless or landline) there are service charges on our bills that is basically U.S. govt fees. Instead of us paying the govt directly, our carrier bills us for them, and then the carrier pays the govt. Same thing, but different methodolgy. It may not be as expensive overall as I'm hearing it is for you guys, but it still exists.

 

It all depends. Some DirecTV customers pay several hundred dollars a month for premium service. Like, I can understand having money and blowing it, but they spend probably over 2 grand a year and watch 7% of what they pay for.

I asked my dad, cause I was interested, and our bill is only like $110/month for three TV's.

 

that seems alot, i pay £36 for Virgin media ( XL tv, XL phone and 50 meg b-band ) then £11.45 (ish) for the luxury of just owning a TV =/

We arent charged per tv, if im reading your post right you are ?? that sucks