My US hellscape or broken Britain: where would you rather seek healthcare?

It's insurance renewal time again - when I discuss cover in New York, hear tales of NHS woe in the UK, and wonder which is worse

For the second time since moving to the US 15 years ago, I had to call 911 this week. The first time, six years ago, was when smoke poured into the elevator from a fire in the laundry room and four fire trucks arrived within minutes. This week, it was to request an ambulance for a sick neighbour. Between dialling the number, and a gurney and two paramedics materialising in our hallway, was approximately seven minutes. I found myself thinking something I used to think about the NHS: what an amazing service.

My understanding, at this distance, is that most ambulances in the UK do not show up in under 10 minutes, even when the emergency is dire. A friend who had a heart attack in the street in London this year was, he told me, lying on the pavement for 40 minutes before the ambulance showed up. This is terrifying, and yet still marginally less terrifying than the common American experience of emergency care, in which gratitude for efficiency is undercut by the dim but thrilling possibility of losing one's house when the invoice arrives.

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist