NHS WAITING LISTS HAVE BEEN A BOON FOR PRIVATE MEDICINE IN THE UK

Health care: public, private or both? In Great Britain, about 13% of t he population is covered by private health insurance, and everyone els e is served by the public health care system known as the National Hea lth Service, or NHS. Caroline Richmond who examined the impact of priv ate medical practice in Britain, says people become private patients f or one compelling reason: to avoid the NHS's notoriously long waiting lists for surgery. According to Professor Alan Maynard, a health care researcher, the mainstays of the private sector are the ''three h's'' - hips, hernias and hemorrhoids - along with some elective surgery, pa rticularly in gynecology and ophthalmology. Another small sector focus es on fertility regulation and cosmetic surgery. Although the levels a re not monitored closely, physician consultants are not permitted to e arn more than 10% of their income from private practice.