An average UK worker isn't in favour of privatisation of industry and, more commonly, they're in favour of renationalisation of industry. Recent polls have put the UK public 70% in favour of renationalisation of rail and energy industries, for example. In the US though, it's a different story. 52% believe it isn't the government's responsibility to ensure everyone has access to affordable healthcare whereas in the UK, 48% are in favour of raising taxes to pay for the NHS and 21% in favour of cutting back other public services just to fund the NHS.
But, there's a million articles debating whether private services are better or worse than public services. Let's try something different.
How do people change their behaviour using public and private services? After analysing the difference between the American healthcare and British healthcare systems you see an incredible difference. People on the far-right often argue that the only alternative to a market-based system is rationing, in every industry including health, education, transport etc even if they're state-owned. Because demand is infinite.
That isn't true, obviously. But why isn't it true? Why don't people in the UK just freely go the doctors every day because it's free? Because social 'rules' deter them to but, I think there's something to it that's much more broad than that. For example, the number of visits to medical departments in the USA in 2009-10 was 1.2 billion, or 4.08 per person in one year - 82.1% of all people had contacted a health professional in that year. Now, look at the UK: 22.3 million visits to A&E in 2014/15, 15.4 million hospital admissions and 82m outpatient attendances. That's a combined total of just under 120 million in a year (bearing in mind that's 5 years after the US data as well). That's under 2 visits per person per year in the UK, half that of the US' - which does exclude private healthcare but since just 11.7% of the population is signed up to private health insurance and since most of them are offered by their employers (as they're employed, the requirement for healthcare is much smaller at working age) it won't make a huge difference to the figures.
This demonstrates a huge divide in the way the public treat a private profit-making business and a public organisation. It's incredibly rare for someone under the age of 40 in the UK to have an annual checkup but in the US it's almost commonplace. In my view, it's the power of direct payment and ownership. If you collectively own something between a group of people, you have a social duty to respect it and not exploit it. Therefore, people in the UK have a huge social incentive to use the NHS as little as possible, as the people that exploit public services and money are looked down upon, perhaps more than anyone (look at benefit 'scroungers'). Whereas, in the US it's privately owned (despite being a very heavily regulated market). Most people who receive healthcare in the US pay for it. That conscious buying decision makes people feel entitled to a service. As it's a capitalist market, they're used to voluntary exchange, they expect something in return so are more likely to go. More importantly, they don't have social incentives (or anywhere near as strong) to not go. But there are economic incentives and personal incentives to go - you get a free service that would normally cost money and personal health could be improved. The only person worse off is the owner of the health insurance company - a person the customer has no connection with and whose image of is determined entirely by the media after all and is likely is a much better financial position than he/she is.
So, what I'm suggesting is not that the idea of 'every man for himself' is ingrained into our human minds and that the capitalist system is the only one that abides by human nature. But that the economic system itself shapes people's perceptions and views on how they should live their lives. Whether it's trying to get as much value out of something as possible in order to boost your position at the expense of someone else's or to believe in the socialist idea of putting ownership in the hands of citizens, who look after and ration themselves in their services. I'm not putting forth an argument, I'm neither a pure capitalist or pure socialist, I'm just making observations.
Sources:
UK public's thoughts on public ownership: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/09/if-ed-miliband-socialist-so-are-most-public
US public's thoughts on healthcare: http://www.gallup.com/poll/4708/healthcare-system.aspx
NHS stats: http://www.nhsconfed.org/resources/key-statistics-on-the-nhs
US healthcare system visits: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/physician-visits.htm
Inspiration for writing this came from this reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/3huozt/im_22_am_i_supposed_to_go_to_the_doctor_to_make/
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