Over the last few years I and, more especially, my family have probably had more value from the NHS in care than I have paid in taxes. From a health perspective you can say that's a shame. But since most treatments have been successful, it's also been a blessing.
Today I will again be going through the agony of sitting through a loved one going through theatre. It's pretty minor this time, but important. With luck, I'll be taking this one home a little sore and bruised later today. And once more I'll be grateful that I live in a state that treats people's medical needs irrespective of means.
If only we could do more on that basis. Think how many lives might be improved, immeasurably.
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Positive thoughts to you and to all your loved ones at this time. Maybe my turn soon … awaiting knee replacement op.
Peace and love
Jeni
Thanks
No.2 on the list
Not long to wait
People who flirt with the politically-motivated notion of making the NHS private (or ‘partly’ private), and accessible only to those who can ‘pay’ for care really do need their heads examined. By a pro. Whom they will have to pay for. Directly. Before they can be seen.
The NHS is the UK’s most valuable service, I reckon. I’ve lived in Scotland for 33 years now, but I grew up in the USA, and remember what it was like, if you couldn’t afford insurance premiums (which were the most expensive item in anybody’s normal budget.) Paying every time you visited the GP. Paying full price for all prescriptions. Paying horrendous charges to see a dentist. Paying thousands (yes, thousands) for an emergency ride in an ambulance. If you needed surgery and/or a hospital stay, you’d better have damn good insurance or very deep pockets. Or a home you can remortgage. And if you have serious chronic health issues, you will be in debt for the rest of your life, with a bill you will never really be able to pay. And that’s if health care providers still agree to treat you. Many will not treat non life-threatening episodes, if you owe them money.
Even good insurance policies have ‘deductibles’ (called excesses here in the UK) which means they don’t cover you for most ordinary things. I have a friend who, last year, had to pay $906 to get 14 stitches to close a superficial head wound on his teenaged son. This man HAS ‘good’ health insurance. But the deductible is $3000 per incident. And most policies are ‘capped,’ meaning there is an upper limit they will pay for any condition. If your condition requires treatment that goes above that cap, you need to come up with the difference yourself.
The NHS which remains suitable for purpose and available to all needs to be a non-negotiable part of any political manifesto. If we lose it, we will have lost one of the most valuable things we have.
Thanks for that American perspective, Jan.
I knew it was bad. I didn’t realise it was as bad as you describe.
Here in Scotland many people underestimate the damage being done south of the border; in part because the MSM narrative tars Scottish NHS with the same brush and adds insult to injury with every additional quibble it can spot in what is happening in Scotland that is less than perfect.
It is an alarming propaganda narrative. ‘They’ really do strive to persuade us it’s ‘even worse’ in Scotland ( because everything in Scotland must be wrong).
I shudder to think what trade talks with the Americans will be like after Brexit. Perhaps Brits will come to see how Kim Yung Un feels. !! The US does not even attempt to conceal its intentions for creating and dominating the UK health market.
I watched again recently that excellent film ‘As Good as it Gets’. Just another reminder that a mother with an asthmatic son had to rely on the kindness of the Jack Nicholson character to fund his proper treatment. Makes you shudder.
Ah – my favourite film … 🙂
It’s even worse than the portrait painted of the US:-
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/07/how-the-ama-engages-in-government-sanctioned-price-fixing.html
Americans like to think they’re efficient and smart with their free market based capitalism but they aren’t because they fail to look at the bigger picture, for example:-
http://mathbabe.org/2011/11/22/who-takes-risks/
Always worth reminding everybody that there are only two healthcare systems in the world – the one in the USA that bankrupts people on a regular basis, and the one in the UK which treats everybody and your only financial loss is potentially your time off work.
No, there are more that fit between these two
But few go the US route because of its extreme cost with terrible outcomes
No there really are not universal coverage systems with better outcomes in Northern Europe, otherwise they’d get a look in whenever the NHS is discussed on here and in the media you quote from.
I was not suggesting they were the same as the NHS
But they are not the US either
There is so much wrong with attempts to change the funding method of the NHS. By trying to shoe horn a method of private finance into something that is essential to all then
1) Those who can afford it pay less.
2) Those that can’t afford it either don’t get the care or go into debt.
3) Wastage increases in the form of administration costs of the funder and the wealthy get the benefit of extracting funds through profits.
4) Everyone doesn’t get the care they might need because at the point they have to chose what “insurance” they need most will not get right. The young will not believe they will ever get ill and many will not step up their cover as they get older because the cost will become prohibitive or the insurer will refuse cover if they by that stage they have a pre-existing condition.
5) Low paid workers in the health service will find their incomes squeezed as private providers seek to increase margins or counter increases at the higher end for managers and ceo’s they will now have to “compete” for in the market place and attract ever increasing remuneration packages from friendly remuneration committees.
6) Health providers will be lumbered with large amounts of debt as hedge funds and investment banks look to seek profit from the consolidation of providers with M&A deals and in all likelihood US private health companies enter the UK market pushing up values and increasing the transfer of wealth from poor to rich.
7) Profits will be privatised but costs will become the responsibility of the state if anything goes wrong. What happens if a major provider goes bust leaving people without cover or care? The state will bail them out.
8) Insurance by its very nature is an over pricing of a good otherwise insurers do not make profits. The cost of health care therefore must rise as a whole.
Whilst markets have a place in a mixed economy in the case of the nation’s health they do not and never will.
I agree with your conclusion
Best Wishes for your loved one, Richard.
The NHS retrieved me from death in 2015, and reversed the resulting ileostomy in 2016, so I have recent experience of the marvellousness of it all.
As usual this morning I continue to wonder how any organisation can find so many people so willing to be helpful whilst appearing wholly in command of what they are doing
Indeed. It is just as you say.
Jeni – I hope that that knee is not kept waiting too long.
Seconded to Jeni
And the op has gone well and I’m now sitting beside a very dopey person
Great news! I hope that you are both safely and comfortably as possible home soon.
“the op has gone well and I’m now sitting beside a very dopey person”
Your loved one was the Scottish Growth Commission! Who knew?!?
On a serious note, pleased to hear it went well, and really appreciate your open-hearted gratitude – which I share passionately. Of all Boris’ stupid statements, the one about folk not appreciating the NHS unless they pay for it is one of his most stupid (and that’s from a highly competitive field!) and says ever so much more about him than the folk he’s attempting to describe.
I agree re Boris!
And today the patient is sore but doing very well
I agree re Boris!
And today the patient is sore but doing very well
You are so right about the agony of waiting. Fingers crossed that your wait today is short, swift and with a good outcome.
Thanks
Who did not love the celebration of the NHS in the olympic opening ceremony? That was the UK at its best. Brexit feels like the opposite.
I used to wonder what it must have been like living through WW2, not knowing it would end with victory for the allies (my wife’s parents were involved in different ways and met in the middle east during the war) and, for the UK, in the creation of a fairer society with healthcare for all.
Feels like we are in different kind of war now.
Best wishes for a happy & successful outcome.
I too thank to NHS for giving me the quality of life I currently enjoy. My experience was outstanding at every level and couldn’t have been improved even if I’d been able to afford the best private clinic. The young surgeon said he could earn 3 times more in the US for the same procedure, yet his dedication to the NHS was 100%. How do you put real value on that?
A courageous government would ban the private medical sector – or at the very least prohibit it from using any NHS facilities (e.g. doctor & nurse training).
As usual, the NHS has been fantastic this morning. We’ll be home this afternoon
I am always amazed at how fast some things can be done
I am very glad the surgery went well, Mr Murphy. Hope there’s a speedy and successful recovery.
I have, unfortunately, recently seen our NHS in action, and can only marvel at the professionalism and dedication of the staff. Would that our accountants/economists carried out their work in a similar fashion.
Health is not a commodity to be bought/sold in a market and the value to society of our NHS cannot be measured on a balance sheet. It would be political suicide for the Tories to advocate privatisation, so they starve the system and then claim that we need private companies to plug the gaps. Very sneaky. So now we are told that it will cost £2k per household in extra taxes to keep the NHS as is, and THAT would be political suicide for the parties who advocate it.
We really need to get MMT into the mainstream so that such false arguments don’t gain further traction, or we could have full on hypothecation of taxes for specific purposes; this would be disastrous as you have so often pointed out.
I hope your loved ones’ health issues are resolved quickly.
Thank you for such a great blog.
Thank you
So pleased that everything went smoothly. Now for the recuperation…
Indeed….
But so far looking good
Insurance means that the losses of the few are paid by the contributions of the many.
Since when have we been counting our gains from the NHS against our payments to the NHS?
Such counting is counter to the ideal of our NHS and to our welfare system in general.
I know that
It does not stop me being appreciative
Spot-on Waggler.
Many of us would not be here at all were it not for the childhood immunisation programmes which only work at all effectively when they are universally applied.
Measels, Mumps, Rubella, Smallpox, Whooping Cough, Diphtheria, Polio and the rest no longer haunt us but we have TB and Rickets creeping back. We can even hope to prevent a major flu pandemic, but that is not a given and the necessary global connections are threatened by market forces.
We take so much for granted and forget the philosophy that built what we have inherited.
It does not sustain itself.
Delighted it went well and hope things continue similarly.
Isn’t it remarkable how we discover that even when an outfit as underfunded and mistreated as the NHS still works well outside the mainstream ‘market’, that we do not therefore conclude that many more of society’s requirements would be better conducted as ‘Services’ similarly outside the market?
Agreed!
Peter May says:
“Isn’t it remarkable how we discover…..”
That unregulated markets can trash the entire global financial economy and forget it instantly because MMT bails it out.
The NHS IS a “good news” story and must remain so if we can keep those on the right who want to destroy it at bay and persuade government to give it the funding it deserves.
Glad to hear your “good news” story.
The patient is in remarkably good form tonight