“We can either listen to each other… [sound of heckling continues] … or not”
The sound of several hundred people thinking the same thing came across the radio and TV screens:
“Why would we want to listen to you talking nonsense about record investment and nursing efficiencies while our colleagues are losing their jobs; and all with your patronising voice?”
I’m afraid I have no time for this government’s mismanagement of the NHS and I am delighted that the public have started to notice what a waste of money the extra spending (sorry, “investment”) in the NHS really is.
It’s a crime, though, that the inevitable result of this mismanagement is death and suffering by those paying for it.
April 27th, 2006 at 9:19 am
When I was in the UK I had SupaBupa (i.e the more expensive Bupa insurance that covers more things than the ’standard Bupa’ but not the SupaDupaBupa or ExtraSupaDupaBupa). It cost me £100 per month for my whole family (me, my wife and baby). At £90bn per year (that’s the latest figure isn’t it?) the NHS is costing each and every household £4500 per year, or £375 per month.
I say let’s move over to a private insurance scheme.
And to those that moan and complain that the unemployed won’t be able to afford cover - I say tough; they should go out and get a job.
For those that are infirmed, then some cross subsidisation can solve the problem. Would it qaudruple premiums? I doubt it.
If Bupa can do it, and Switzerland (the private insurance scheme here costs me about £275 - for better cover than I had with Bupa), then why can’t the UK?
April 27th, 2006 at 10:33 am
Insurance is definitely the way to go for health cover - I pay about £110 a month for the level of cover I have with BUPA, largely so I don’t have to wait in queues should anything dramatic go wrong with me - luckily it has not so far. The NHS needs to be pared down to a bare minimum of simple health care - and most of the 1.1 - 1.2 million employees put to more productive employment either in the private healthcare sector or in another ‘industry’ altogether.
April 27th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
I won’t tell you how much my private health insurance costs (it would only upset you) but it’s a great deal cheaper than that £4,500… The problem is the marketing of the NHS has been very good. Everyone (almost) believes that the NHS is necessary to avoid cruelty to the poor or people being turned away a la US.
April 27th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
“Everyone (almost) believes that the NHS is necessary to avoid cruelty to the poor or people being turned away a la US.”
Actually no-one is turned away in the US, they all have access to free emergency healthcare to the extent that a large proportion of those without healthcare can actually afford it but choose not too. Additionally, many of the problems related to cost are a result of government intervention in the markets.
How about copying the Massachusetts model for universal healthcare as an interim solution to develop a private sector capable of taking over from the NHS and get people used to private insurance?
April 27th, 2006 at 4:19 pm
I asked this on samizdata but ofcourse they couldn’t give a sensible answer other than “its not upto me to pay for other peoples healthcare”.
Under an insurance system what happens to children of poor families who either can’t or wont pay? surely we as a society don’t want to see children suffer because of their parents mistakes or stupidity?
And what about people with genetic disorders, they could be charged extra by private medical insurance companies, so much so that they might stuggle to afford it?
–
Why are the medical staff so pissed off with Labour? I know Conservatives would be annoyed with this mismanagement but I’d have thought these crazy unions were getting just what they asked for, large pay increases and staff increases, huge amount of extra money going in.
Since when did the Unions care about results or efficiency.
April 29th, 2006 at 5:51 pm
The unions are pissed off because because thanks to Labour’s mismanagement of the NHS, nurses will now have to be laid off.
Before the introduction of the NHS Britain had a flourishing voluntary hospitals sector providing healthcare for those who couldn’t afford it. Unions and friendly societies also played an important role. Far from filling a gap, the NHS was introduced to fit a socialist ideology which failed and destroyed what went before it in the process.
April 30th, 2006 at 3:36 am
Yes, some might have to be laid off, but thats only because they employed so many extra that they have now desided they can’t afford them all, but they still have a lot extra since 97.