Should the NHS be Abolished?

[HeadingNorth]

No - not everybody can afford insurance..

 

It would be a fairly simple matter to have compulsory medical insurance, paid out of your taxes if you pay taxes and provided for you if you don't.

 

 

The NHS in its present form, will be abolished. The question of should or should not is an irrelevance. The current system just swallows ever-increasing amounts of money, and sooner or later we won't be able to fund it any more and it will go.

[Anna B]

No it shouldn't be abolished in my opinion. That's not to say it couldn't do with some wide ranging reform, but the idea of it still being 'free' at the point of use should stand.

 

When it was formed in the 1940s it served very different needs from today. It's tried to keep up with modern demands but is now failing miserably. So changes will have to come and that will take investment to actually save money. Privatisation, where it has become involved, has been an unmitigated disaster so far - take for example the scandal of agency nurses, and cleaning contracts. Other countries all have problems with providing healthcare, no matter what system is used.

 

It's way too top heavy with beurocracy, money is wasted hand over fist, and the left hand never seems to know what the right hand is doing. Yet as the biggest employer in the country it is in a good position to dictate terms, and drive a hard bargain to remain competative.

 

Oh and they might like to turn their heating down, it's always too hot in hospitals - that could save them a few quid.

[Iuchi_Zien]

Have any of you actually taken a look at the system you are proposing? Look at what is happening in the US for god's sake! You talk about the 'freeloaders' by that I assume you mean children, who don't pay taxes and the old, who also don't pay taxes? I assume you believe quadriplegic's and other seriously disabled should be humanely terminated to save you money on your taxes? The only 'freeloaders' in the current NHS are the drug companies who have their hands in your pocket stealing money and then not paying their own taxes by basing themselves abroad. These companies are dying (sic) to take over the NHS to scr*w even more money out of you.

[garryh69]

Have any of you actually taken a look at the system you are proposing? Look at what is happening in the US for god's sake! You talk about the 'freeloaders' by that I assume you mean children, who don't pay taxes and the old, who also don't pay taxes? I assume you believe quadriplegic's and other seriously disabled should be humanely terminated to save you money on your taxes? The only 'freeloaders' in the current NHS are the drug companies who have their hands in your pocket stealing money and then not paying their own taxes by basing themselves abroad. These companies are dying (sic) to take over the NHS to scr*w even more money out of you.

Freeloaders as in people who come from abroad who get healthcare

[HeadingNorth]

No it shouldn't be abolished in my opinion. That's not to say it couldn't do with some wide ranging reform, but the idea of it still being 'free' at the point of use should stand.

 

That principle was scrapped within 18 months of the foundation of the NHS.

[biotechpete]

We all need to realise that we can't all have the very best system of healthcare that someone else's money can buy. It's the law of averages. The problem is, and I really do believe it, this is the best system we can hope for.

 

I certainly don't want a system of healthcare like the US where it serves only 80% of the population and the cost is 3x that per patient than in the NHS.

 

Could money be better spent, certainly, but privatisation is not the answer. I work in a building built by PFI. Less than 10 years old, leaking roof, temperatures over 25C even when -5 outside, leaking sinks, blocked drains, etc etc. That's how the profit margin is generated.

[biotechpete]

Have any of you actually taken a look at the system you are proposing? Look at what is happening in the US for god's sake! You talk about the 'freeloaders' by that I assume you mean children, who don't pay taxes and the old, who also don't pay taxes? I assume you believe quadriplegic's and other seriously disabled should be humanely terminated to save you money on your taxes? The only 'freeloaders' in the current NHS are the drug companies who have their hands in your pocket stealing money and then not paying their own taxes by basing themselves abroad. These companies are dying (sic) to take over the NHS to scr*w even more money out of you.

 

If you had any idea what you were talking about someone might take you seriously.

 

Drug companies are 'dying' to pull out of the UK and to an extent Europe altogether. The reason being that their R&D costs are massive and the European governments over burden them with legislation and ever shortening patent life. That's the reason that the three biggest pharma companies in the UK (GSK, AZ and Pfizer) have all announced job losses totalling about 10,000-15,000 people this year alone. The pharma sector in the UK is dying, and the graduates that work in it are leaving for US, Canada, Switzerland, Malaysia, Middle East where governments are willing to support the science.

[SkaAsWit]

The NHS in its present form, will be abolished. The question of should or should not is an irrelevance. The current system just swallows ever-increasing amounts of money, and sooner or later we won't be able to fund it any more and it will go.

 

That's wishful thinking masquerading as fact, methinks. The NHS won't be abolished for 3 reasons:

 

1) It's massively popular with the public who would turn on any government that would try to abolish the it,

2) It's the UK's biggest employer and therefore industrial action in every constituency would have a massive effect, and

3) A private system would be based on profit motives for private firms, profits that could only come by reducing care or increasing costs (or both) to the public.

 

I do love the argument about freeloaders from abroad, though. What percentage of NHS users do these people represent? A tiny figure. So some people think everyone in this country should have the NHS taken away just because of a few foreigners.

[bagger]

Yes i would pay for private insurance for me and my family, and it would stop people coming over from other countries to get all the free healthcare before people who have lived and worked here all their lives!

 

I voted no, as someone who has has first class treatment for cancer from the NHS. I may not always be able to afford insurance. The system needs changing to stop those coming from abroad for treatment.

You can't just abolish an excellent facility like the NHS merely to stop others using it.

[shaznay]

That's wishful thinking masquerading as fact, methinks. The NHS won't be abolished for 3 reasons:

 

1) It's massively popular with the public who would turn on any government that would try to abolish the it,

2) It's the UK's biggest employer and therefore industrial action in every constituency would have a massive effect, and

3) A private system would be based on profit motives for private firms, profits that could only come by reducing care or increasing costs (or both) to the public.

 

I do love the argument about freeloaders from abroad, though. What percentage of NHS users do these people represent? A tiny figure. So some people think everyone in this country should have the NHS taken away just because of a few foreigners.

 

agree with this post

 

and also the NHS is my employer