{"id":15242,"date":"2018-03-07T13:17:49","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T13:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2018\/03\/07\/u-k-hospitals-are-overburdened-but-the-british-love-their-universal-health-care\/"},"modified":"2018-03-07T13:17:49","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T13:17:49","slug":"u-k-hospitals-are-overburdened-but-the-british-love-their-universal-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/u-k-hospitals-are-overburdened-but-the-british-love-their-universal-health-care\/","title":{"rendered":"U.K. Hospitals Are Overburdened, But The British Love Their Universal Health Care"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lauren Frayer<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Protesters marched in London on Feb. 3 to demand more money for Britain’s National Health Service, as winter conditions are thought to have put a severe strain on the system.<\/p>\n

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Yui Mok\/AP<\/p>\n

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Yui Mok\/AP<\/p>\n

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When Erich McElroy takes the stage at comedy clubs in London, his routine includes a joke about the first time he went to see a doctor in Britain.<\/p>\n

Originally from Seattle, McElroy, 45, has lived in London for almost 20 years. A stand-up comedian, he’s made a career out of poking fun<\/a> at the differences in the ways Americans versus Britons see the world \u2014 and one of the biggest differences is their outlook on health care.<\/p>\n

“I saw a doctor, who gave me a couple pills and sent me on my way. But I still hadn’t really done any paperwork. I was like, ‘This isn’t right!’ ” McElroy says onstage, to giggles from the crowd. “So I went back to the same woman, and I said, ‘What do I do now?’ And she said, ‘You go home!’ “<\/p>\n

The mostly British audience erupts into laughter.<\/p>\n

McElroy acknowledges it doesn’t sound like much of a joke. He’s just recounting his first experience at a U.K. public hospital. But Britons find it hilarious, he says, that an American would be searching for a cash register, trying to find how to pay for treatment at a doctor’s office or hospital. It’s a foreign concept here, McElroy explains.<\/p>\n