The National Health Service (NHS) is one of the best things the UK ever did for...well, for the UK.

Based on the values of solidarity, universality, equality and compassion, the NHS is a staple of our country which stipulates healthcare should be free and accessible to everyone.

It's basically a service based on basic common decency.

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And yes, I know that once in a while you might have to sit on a cold metal chair for a several hours in A&E at Christmas and scrabble around in your bag to find £2 to pay the hospital car park meter when visiting a relative but, really, us Brits are incredibly lucky when it comes to receiving care for our numerous ailments.

One guy who'd like to remind you of this privilege is comedian Rob Delaney (that hilarious American guy from the Channel 4 comedy Catastrophe) who has written an essay on Tumblr about the benefits of living with a UK healthcare system like the NHS, versus what you get in the US.

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First of all, Delaney would like to point out he can talk from experience when it comes to the two countries' services.

After all, having moved from the US to the UK almost three years ago, fathered three kids, spent his adult life in an 'incredibly hairy human body', been married to a woman with a 'glorious' and 'complex' reproductive system and revealing he has a serious addiction for Five Guys' Oreo milkshakes, it sounds like the guy has had his fair share of hospital visits in his life.

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In his essay, he writes: 'The purpose of this piece is to tell you that the NHS of this exact moment in 2017 is better that the private healthcare systems in the US.'

He pluralises the word 'systems because 'there is, sadly, no one unified 'system' in the US, much to the detriment of so many millions of Americans'.

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Discussing his own experiences with the US healthcare system, Delaney explains he once had to pay hundreds of dollars so his child could receive emergency treatment during a visit back to the States.

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As his family had been living in the UK for several years and no longer had American health insurance, Delaney explained: 'Our youngest required an emergency ultrasound on his kidneys. As we've been in the UK for years now, we don't have American health insurance anymore and I had to pay a £400 deposit before they would do the test. On my baby's kidneys.

The purpose of this piece is to tell you that the NHS of this exact moment in 2017 is better that the private healthcare systems in the US

'In the richest country in the world, in which I still pay plenty of taxes as a citizen. Also it was my baby's kidneys if I haven't already said that,' he added.

The 39-year-old actor also revealed he once had to max out two credit cards and borrow a third from a relative to pay for surgery on his broken wrist after a car accident.

This was a time before the Obamacare act which 'president-elect Trump and the Republican Congress have pledged to repeal', he highlights.

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Due to the crippling debt healthcare demands put on patients in the US Delaney says that many are forced to forego care and medicine due to the cost.

'They also commit suicide because of medical debt. It's hard to hold in one's mind the idea that those things can and do happen in a country as wealthy as the United States,' he adds.

He finishes the piece by saying he tried to publish his letter in a newspaper but admits right-wing newspapers said not and left-wing publications 'wanted to make it more hopeful'.

So, next time you complain about having to stand in line to collect their prescription at Boots, it could be far, far worse.

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Katie O'Malley
Site Director

Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.