The NHS is funded out of general taxation. It's a bit like asking "how much of your salary is taken to pay for the White House gardeners?" This article (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/nhs/story/0,1480,616951,00.html) reckons that it costs about £1000 per person per year for the NHS (or about $1800). The thing is that everyone knows the NHS is free at point of delivery, and so it gets slightly abused. However, I do think that the benefits out way these drawbacks - if you get cancer, you will be covered. Doesn't matter if you have been made redundant, forgot to pay your premium this month, or there is some exception in the T&Cs. There are no deductibles - nothing to pay at all. Cost is not really an issue (except in some very rare cases). There is however a fixed charge for prescriptions – everything is about £6, no matter what the doctor has prescribed. As for your other points - there are waiting lists for things like hip operations, but good ol' Tony is working away at the problem. It depends on your GPs practise (Primary Care Practitioner or whatever your term is!), but it can vary between having to ring on the day (ie, you can't choose to wait), or a few weeks as you say. Once you are qualified as a doctor, you earn a good wage in the UK - it’s the people like the student doctors, nurses and EMTs ;) that don't get paid enough. As for education - it’s a normal (but long) degree. The (very) new student top up rules mean that you may have to pay up to £3k a year, but this is not paid up front, and is instead taken out of your pay packet when you get a job. Obviously, for less well off people, this is graded, and there are also grants and bursaries. HTH. Say if you have some more questions – and everyone else correct me where tiredness overcame me! Martin