unbeliever Posted November 3, 2015 Author Share Posted November 3, 2015 Also worth noting that if you go down the insurance route your premium can go up and up if you're seriously ill or sick long term they can decide they won't insure you at all. My NHS premium goes up in real terms every single year without fail. ---------- Post added 03-11-2015 at 12:46 ---------- Nonsense. Go to your doctor, it doesn't cost you a penny. Go to A&E, it doesn't cost you a penny. Have a life saving operation, it doesn't cost you a penny. At the point of delivery, it's free. Free at the point is delivery is not free. Only a subset of NHS services are even free at the point of delivery. It's not free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinfoilhat Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 That's extreme. They can't even do that in the US any more. Every system has special insurance regulation when it come to healthcare. I bet they can with certain things - mental health for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgtkate Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 No you can't. You can get private health insurance, but you still have to pay the NHS as well. That's a monopoly. The average contribution to the NHS is closer to £2000 and only a small minority of people need a GP once per month. And surgery? Physio? Pregnancy (clearly not if you male )? In my life I have had a reasonable amount of surgery and hospital visits. V active childhood meant several episodes of concussion, 2 broken collar bones, dislocated shoulder and a broken elbow. Since then I've had surgery for a knee injury and my tonsils removed. Add to 'normal' GP visits a couple of times a year for random bits and bobs. Let my try to tot up what it would have cost privately in todays money: GP visits x 50 - lifetime average I'd guess? - £3000 Hospital visits - average of £500 a time including tests - £3500 Knee surgery - horrendously expensive as surgery was major and highly complex - £12000 Physio post surgery - £1200 Insoles to aid knee recovery - £500 Tonsil removal - £1000 -------------------------- Total = £21200 Cost to me through taxation? Again rough averages here, maybe £15000k as clearly I wasn't paying tax as a child So I'm already massively up and I'm really in the healthy part of my life. I suspect I will only use the NHS even more as I get older, have kids etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnailyBoy Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 (edited) My NHS premium goes up in real terms every single year without fail. ---------- Post added 03-11-2015 at 12:46 ---------- Free at the point is delivery is not free. Only a subset of NHS services are even free at the point of delivery. It's not free. So apart from prescriptions, which are charges sanctioned by the Government. Which NHS services have you had to pay for at the point of delivery, actually presenting cash, credit card or other form of payment before you could be treated. Or maybe you could show bills from the NHS demanding payment, post treatment? Edited November 3, 2015 by SnailyBoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFKvsNixon Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 No you can't. You can get private health insurance, but you still have to pay the NHS as well. That's a monopoly. The average contribution to the NHS is closer to £2000 and only a small minority of people need a GP once per month. That's because private healthcare needs the NHS to back it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgtkate Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 That's because private healthcare needs the NHS to back it up. Yup. Emergency care tends to be the most expensive, likely to end in disaster and difficult to plan for accurately. Hence why most private healthcare companies deal with simple elective surgery. Costs known in advance, likelihood of complications are low, can be planned carefully to have exact numbers of staff to maximise profit. The more we outsource to private, the more the NHS is left dealing only with emergency care, that costs significantly more per capita than almost anything else in the NHS, while the private sector hold all the profit making services. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unbeliever Posted November 3, 2015 Author Share Posted November 3, 2015 So apart from prescriptions, which are charges sanctioned by the Government. Which NHS services have you had to pay for at the point of delivery, actually presenting cash, credit card or other form of payment before you could be treated. Or maybe you could show bills from the NHS demanding payment, post treatment? Apart from prescriptions?!? http://bma.org.uk/support-at-work/pay-fees-allowances/fees/fee-finder/fee-finder-why-gps-charge-fees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berberis Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 I'm not being pedantic. I'm paying thousand of pounds a year into the NHS which is now being very unhelpful to me when I need it. Describing something as "free" just because somebody else has paid for it is an ungrateful, deceitful lie and I'm not standing for it. I see arguing the semantics of a free or not service is more important to you than discussing facts or backing up your own claims with evidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unbeliever Posted November 3, 2015 Author Share Posted November 3, 2015 I see arguing the semantics of a free or not service is more important to you than discussing facts or backing up your own claims with evidence. I see rather than conceding the point having lost the argument, you're trying to move the debate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berberis Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 No you can't. You can get private health insurance, but you still have to pay the NHS as well. That's a monopoly.. Does Private Health Insurance provide emergency health care? A&E's for example? Do they carry out all surgery that the NHS provides or only some? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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