I don't know much about the US health care system but I now know a lot more than I ever expected to about the British one. It seems that it's quite normal here to wait for 12 to 18 months to have a bypass operation. We don't have to pay because everyone makes contributions to the National Health Service via deductions from their salaries. Some people do pay private insurance premiums via organisations like BUPA and are able to jump the queue. Some people, when they find out how long they will have to wait for a free operation, use their savings or take out loans to be able to be treated more quickly. [It seems that in the US people get bypass operations within days of first having an MI or angina. Is that the case?] I am not dissatisfied with the British system but it's not perfect by any means. In my husband's case his surgery was done 6 weeks after his first MI - but I think he was unusual and the only reason it was done so quickly was because he was considered to be an emergency case. I think the concept of emergency is a bit different here! A quick timetable of what happened: First heart attack - followed by a week in hospital. Then 2 days at home. Second heart attack. Unstable angina. 5 weeks spent in 2 different hospitals waiting first for an angioplasty, [which, when they did an angiogram, they found was not possible] and then for a bypass. All this was covered by his contributions and we didn't have to pay for anything. Any comparisons or comments from anyone in the US? [Or perhaps from anyone else from the UK?] Sylvia