Tax rate which one??..20% VAT on most goods you buy....income tax is dependant on amount you earn..but your hospitals etc are supposedly paid for out of your National Insurance contributions....
Even if you have no income/NI etc & homeless you can still get free health care in UK...some areas have long waiting lists, , & its not perfect..in my case I had problems on & off for a few months, & I thought I was one thing, then it really went bad so saw my local doctor, & was immediately told to pack a overnight pack & get to the main hospital in the next town. The Doctor rang ahead & I had emergency surgery the next day & spent 7 days in ...cost to me £0000....
Right, so lets add up all the taxes that you pay. What would you say is the average income tax rate and what does one pay for National Health?
In the US, the average income tax rate is 24% - so roughly the same as the UK
In the US, the highest sales tax is in California at 7.25% (some areas also have local sales taxes, but that is generally the exception - the absolute highest in some little hick town in Alabama at 13%) - while the UK is effectively 20%. The difference being that VAT is hidden in the price of the product, while it is added on at the register in the US.
Most Americans are covered through some sort of health insurance through their employer and pay $4500 out of pocket (premiums and co-pays) while an unsubsidized person pays about $10,000 per year. The average senior pays $144 a month for Medicare, but one can get "Medicare Advantage" plans that tie you to a specific list of doctors and hospitals and may actually have a zero cost per month. For normally uninsured persons (low income etc.), there is Medicaid or if you don't qualify for that, then there is the "affordable Care Act" that have plans for roughly the same cost as Medicare.
Public hospitals will not turn anyone away based on ability to pay. Private hospitals must treat acute patients and transfer them once stable.
If you end up at a hospital that accepts your insurance (most accept all of the large carriers) then there is a huge difference between the billed charges and the allowed charges - so those $60 socks actually ends up costing the insurance company about $10.
My mom has Medicare and a supplemental insurance for about $50 a month (so $200 total), has had a pacemaker, gallbladder surgery, cataract surgery and a couple of Emergency Room visits with zero additional out of pocket expenses. I pay about $300 a month, have a $20 co-pay per visit and a $6000 catastrophic cap.
Most anyone can get some sort of affordable insurance, but it is easier to bitch and moan about how expensive healthcare is