Hi Azzawi - I'm wondering if that depends on where you live in the world. I'm from the UK, lived in New Zealand for 10-years and now in Australia. In all three countries the healthcare systems are similar - as is the taxation system. When people visit a hairdresser (I don't need to if you look at my photo) - then it is on a voluntary basis and they are paying 'up-front'. When people visit a doctor they might feel that they are being charged twice. A large contribution of taxation is on healthcare - so people ask the question 'why am I paying again'. It's a similar case with 'free education' through taxation - yet having to pay annual school fees.

Dr Azzawi Hadi , by agreeing with Prof. Dean Whitehead , the people always think that, they are being charged more by the doctors.

Hello Dean..

your style is very nice...

I live in Iraq, unfortunately there is no health insurance... the tax of the specialist doctors between 10- 30$...

The other matter is that they visit the hair dressers twice monthly, while they visit the doctors may be one time every few months ..

Ataul Karim Patwary... Thank you for being here... Can you explain that..

Hi Azzawi Hadi

In the United States, the health system is largely private and therefore people have to pay for health services. In places like the U.K. and others that have a national health system, most people do not pay, however there are a few who prefer to see a doctor privately. Some may have chronic health issues, and it is a common complaint that the NHS (in the UK) have long waiting periods. So, those that can afford will pay to see a doctor now, rather than wait. Ultimately, this problem lies in how the government system is managed and the resources placed into it.

Very interesting question Azzawi. People take the age old adage 'Health is wealth' both literally and figuratively.

I have seen three health care systems (India, UK, Qatar). In India the public healthcare is not too robust and the affordable population won't hesitate to pay for private healthcare because it is cheaper compared to the rest of the world. In UK and Qatar they have good public health system and them being high income countries their private healthcare is costlier, so people might hesitate to pay as they already have a good alternative.

In higher income countries people like to pay probably for better waiting times whereas in lower income country like India we don't have another alternative sometimes because public health system is inadequate for such a huge population.

Then while paying for the services that you mentioned it is not way too out of reach, but for healthcare it is not always affordable. Negative outcomes in other services would not be as detrimental as that in a healthcare setting. In the healthcare setting people have reservation as they are not really sure about the quality aspect that they pay for too.

In the country where there is not a public health system to pay for a doctor is bothering because everyone think that youth and health is a normal condition. When you lose the first you are surprised. When you lose the second it seems to everyone an injustice. If you have to pay then is a double injustice, in our perception.

In the countries where health system is paid in advance with taxes, there are the motivations above and the fiscal injustice.

Thank you all for these participations, You touch the heart of the truth..