There’s nothing free about the NHS Mike. We pay for it through taxation. Other countries pay for their systems through a combination of compulsory employment based insurance and general taxation for those not employed. It works out the same in the end except the state does not dictate the services provided, the employees and their families choose the scheme that want to join do. See my post about the French health service.
I also have experience of health provision in France and Belgium and the hospitals there. UK hospitals are a joke by comparison.