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change the way it works,
both, or do nothing?
We not only have an ageing populous, but a fast increasing one, too. If we want the service, we have to tax to pay for it, however that is achieved.
More cash = higher taxes which is a difficult sell politically.
Change the way it works: many options for this including continuing to provide emergency treatment for free but introduce a compulsory insurance scheme for other things, or indeed make primary care a paid-for service (which is the case in New Zealand).
Do nothing: the current system will slip into steady decline with increasing demand, eventually collapsing under the strain, and a new system (probably fully private) will be brought in to replace it. Works fine for higher earners in good health but particularly those on benefits and those with chronic conditions will be hit very hard.
Personally I'm in favour of a combination of the first two. I think introducing charges in certain areas (primary care and for non-emergencies in a&e for instance) as well as possibly introducing a universal prescription charge, and (this will be controversial) removing waiting list targets for non-essential operations and encouraging people to get them done privately would take a large burden off the NHS and allow it to allocate resources to where they are needed (currently that is cancer treatment and elderly care in the community).
I also think that if people want expensive care well into their old age then the better off will probably have to continue to pay some sort of tax beyond retirement age
All just my personal view of course
My main point is that you can't take the NHS in isolation. Its cost is rising as a percentage of GDP as the overall costs of caring for our ageing population are currently increasing faster than GDP is. The economic effects of Brexit in the short term will likely make this worse.
Optimistically though, it's sort of a problem that fixes itself, as once the growth in ages levels off, the costs will as well. The real choice currently is the level of deficit to tolerate in order to maintain all public services, and how to fill the gap. There is not much more to cut so BOTH parties will end up raising taxes.
The real irony is that Theresa Mays tax rises (tax accumulated oldie wealth to find care) were probably fairer than labours (fuck the rich, basically) and she ran her campaign so badly she never put that message out.
Disclaimer: I'm a life long Labour supporter.
Should we privatise the provisioning of all health services leaving funding in public hands?
Or is the only solution to privatise the financing and delivery?
What would impact be on cost of healthcare in UK? As we don't pay that much for it now compared to similar economies, I guess we'll end up paying more but with better outcomes for most people? I guess that in UK we don't know what the true cost of private health is because as far as I know, the NHS is the provider of last resort / only provider of emergency care and the state bears the majority of training costs?
Next step is adopt preventative strategies (Japan does this rigorously) with a yearly MOT that finds anything before it becomes expensive.
Our NHS is free at the point of use Monseuir!
Oui, and twice as many of your babies die before their first birthday!
1) No A&E
2) Access to it is via your GP who will invariably filter out some cases where no attention is required.
So what do we think "full healthcare per person / for a family" would be?
I currently have family healthcare via a work scheme - it's a pittance really because of the risk that they don't cover.
People never cease to surprise me
Some of the private care is pretty poor for the medical emergencies end of things
There is no simple answer to the challenge of providing healthcare to an increasingly unhealthy population for any country, but wrestling the NHS from the vagaries of politics would be a great help.
It shouldn't be taxed though, that's just taking the piss
MOTs would be good, I suggested this at one place I worked about 12 years ago, no interest
this couple pay £1k a month at 70 with no serious illnesses:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-3595418/The-couple-charged-12-000-year-Bupa-health-insurance-ve-no-illnesses-customers-30-years.html
your other points are all consistent with a nationalised industry
Try telling a few people that a nurse is just someone doing their job for a wage that is comparable to other jobs with the same hours and skill level, and then tell me that the UK public are rational when discussing the NHS