Should the NHS be Abolished?

[V.Rossi]

If it were abolished, would those of us who pay tax see a reduction in the percentage we pay over the year???

 

It's a rhetorical question, I'm under the impression Garry isn't working for the Home Office.

 

But with your thinking in mind then yes I would be happy to pay for private insurance for 'my lot' if my taxes were reduced to accompany the extra cost.

[V.Rossi]

24 benefit spongers and 7 hard earning workers up to now then.

[L00b]

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.

I guess that's why so much of the non-EU Big Pharma looking for a EU R&D base invested in Ireland then? And is now quite content to stay there (now that the IP-based tax advantage and the low corpo tax rates have been confirmed as maintained)?

 

PS: patent and SPC terms are essentially the same the world over, so IP is certainly not the driver.

 

Not having a go at you, just correcting some of your points (the core of your argument stands).

 

The problem in the UK is that the Gvt has never been able to support science, and still wouldn't see and implement a good/sustainable science-supporting policy if one bit it in the a**

[V.Rossi]

agree with this post

 

and also the NHS is my employer

 

I reckon you'd still have a job, infact you'd be more likely to keep your job than you are now, just under a different name.

 

I'd love the bank account of the person who could buy it though.....:wow:

[HeadingNorth]

That's wishful thinking masquerading as fact, methinks.

 

It would only be wishful thinking for someone who wanted the NHS abolished. The fact that it will be is impervious to political will. Either it's abolished before it bankrupts the country, or the country goes bankrupt and it's abolished because we have no money to keep it going.

 

In the case of our multiple nationalised industries, we took the latter course, and look how much suffering was caused during the late 70s and early 80s as a result. Nevertheless, you're probably right; nobody dare do anything about it until there is literally no option left.

[zippy]

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!

 

put down your Daily Mail and step away from the keyboard ... come back to this discussion when you are aware of the legal position for funding healthcare in the UK.

 

you are only entitled to free at the point of delivery healthcare if you are entitled to be resident in the UK or have an asylum application pending, if this is not the case you can and will be billed for any primary care , inpatient, daycase or outpatient care you recieve.

[Eater Sundae]

No.

 

But what it tries to achieve should be greatly reduced.

[zippy]

In the case of our multiple nationalised industries, we took the latter course, and look how much suffering was caused during the late 70s and early 80s as a result. Nevertheless, you're probably right; nobody dare do anything about it until there is literally no option left.

 

British Leyland was nationalised because it could not run with the way in which the UK unions acted ( Ford and GM had European manufacturing bases that could be used to provide vehicles for the UK )

 

other industries were nationalised because Labour wanted to protect the jobs of of the natural born labour voting sheep

 

the utilities and BT have survived in private ownership

 

Arthur killed the Coal industry, if the UK mining industry had been allowed to consolidate adequately without the distorting effect of Arthur's illegal strike there would probably be more pits open today ad we wouldn't have imported anywhere near as much coal in the 1980s ...

[Eater Sundae]

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.

 

Re bold.

 

Surely that is what we already have?

[Tony]

Many people pay twice for their healthcare. They don't do it for the luxury carpets in Thornberry and Claremont.