Why we need the NHS (and how the government is trying to destroy it)
I recently had a health scare. I had 'flu which left me bed-ridden for a week. Just when I thought I was on the mend I developed a chest infection which resulted in me collapsing in the street unable to breath and being taken to hospital. It was one of the scariest moments of my life (which tells you how uneventful my life has been!). I was in a strange hospital, not knowing what was wrong with me, how long I'd be there, and, for the first time in my life, wondering how much it was going to cost me. . .
I've grown up with the NHS. I've been fairly healthy most of my life, no broken bones or serious illnesses to speak of. But I've always known that if something did happen to me help was always at hand. I've been to A&E a few times, always with minor things that were resolved easily, though I've had family and friends who've been admitted with more serious maladies. Routine surgery, emergency surgery, longer-term care for illnesses like cancer, some successful, some not. In this, I'm sure, I'm not unusual.
And because of this we take the NHS for granted. It's always there, ready and waiting. We bitch and moan about it, but anyone who's ever been on holiday abroad knows that healthcare can be costly and yet it's a cost we never have to worry about. That's not to say we don't pay for the NHS. We do. Through our taxes: income tax, VAT, business taxes, all those little bits the Chancellor adds to beer and cigarettes and petrol every budget. It all goes into the pot so that when we get ill, all we have to worry about is getting better and all our doctors have to worry about is fixing us.
We don't realise how lucky we are. America is currently trying to tear itself apart over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. All the bill does is reduce insurance premiums for some people and yet it's being treated like the beginning of the End Times by Republicans. Medical bills account for 62% of US bankruptcies yet that just doesn't happen in the UK. The TV series Breaking Bad could not have been made in the UK, and not just because there is no substantial meth market. In the UK version, Walter White would have gone to his doctor who would have referred him to a cancer specialist and he would have been given treatment and then left to get on with his life. This may sound idealised (I've not mentioned waiting time, for example) and it is because no matter how easy the treatment is to get, it's still an incredibly tough thing to have to deal with. Imagine having to deal with it and then wondering if you're going to be able to keep up your mortgage repayments.
The reason I compare us to the US system is because the Conservative government is trying to bring about a similar system here. That may sound conspiratorial and like I've gone slightly crazy but it's unfortunately true. The Conservative party has links to the major insurance companies in the US and many of the 'reforms' they have introduced are actually attempts at privatisation by stealth.
It is at this point I have to admit my lack of knowledge on the details. Part of the problem is the press is doing a terrible job at reporting on this so much of it is going on below the radar. The other reason I can't speak with authority is that this gets into the murky world of business dealings which is where my interest stops and my brain switches off. Suffice it to say, subcontracting services and outsourcing are just the start of the slide into privatisation. Some people are trying to make their voices heard and this is my attempt to do my part. I'll give links to some resources at the bottom of the page which give more details on what is being done and what we can do to try and stop it.
Who cares? Well, you would, if you got sick. Imagine having to pay to see your doctor. Every time. It might not be such a big deal, after all, you're generally healthy. But stop and think if you developed an illness. What then? Those monthly check-ups would soon start to add up. What if you have children? Every time they get sick (which I'm led to understand children do quite frequently) it's another trip to the doctor and another £10, or £20 or £30 before you've even got your diagnosis.
Maybe we could pay a monthly fee instead. This idea was recently proposed by a former Labour health minister, Lord Warner. He proposed we all a pay £10 a month "membership fee". On the face of it that doesn't sound too bad, but what about all those people for whom £10 is the difference between being able to have food for every meal and having to go hungry? We already have unprecedented numbers using food banks, do we really want to make a bad situation worse? Maybe there could be some cut-off point, below which you were exempt from paying, then it wouldn't be so bad. A tenner a month isn't that much. But think about it. At the moment there's no need to track anyone. The only thing doctors have on us are our medical records to tell them what is wrong with us. This system would require the addition of a file of payments. Each patient would need a payment record. That record would need to be managed via administrators. Every single person in the country would have to have their records updated every month. Think of the cost. Think of the potential for error. And what happens if you get taken to hospital and are found to be a month in arrears? Do they turf you back onto the street? Or make you pay what you owe before you're taken to surgery? If you've got a long-term illness will you have to pay a bit more? If you've never seen a doctor will you get a discount? This is starting to sound a lot like an insurance scheme. . .
Access to free healthcare is not a privilege. It's not even a right, really, though it should be if we want to consider ourselves a civilised nation. It's the cheapest way of keeping a country functioning. As I said in my very first post of this reawakened blog, the NHS was not begun by do-gooders wanting to feel philanthropic, it was begun by people recognising that all these people too ill to work were harming the economy. I don't deny there was an element of do-goodery, but the way they were able to sell it was by saying "look at all these people too sick to work. Imagine if we were able to treat them for not really that much and then get them back into jobs". What is better for the economy: someone who loses a leg and is not being able to afford the physio and false leg they need to start living their life, or someone who loses a leg and is given the treatment and aftercare they need to get back to work, earn money, spend money and generally play their part in keeping the economy moving?
It seems strange to justify the existence of the NHS using what feels like a right-wing argument. It is, after all, seeing people as little more than carriers of money. I find it curious that this argument isn't recognised by the right-wing and it makes me question their commitment to growing the economy. How can an economy grow when people are spending a significant proportion of their wages on health insurance and saving the rest for the excess and inevitable premium increases should they have the temerity to get sick some time in the future? How much worse would our economy be right now if, on top of it all, everyone had to worry about how they would afford their next visit to the doctor?
I'll come full circle and finish my little tale of woe that I began at the start. A few weeks later I received a bill for €100. It was nowhere near as much as I'd feared (I'd had an ECG, blood tests and a chest x-ray during my short visit) but it was still more than I'd ever paid before. Luckily, as a UK student with a European Health Insurance Card and a recent bank statement from my UK bank I was able to get the charge waived. A subsequent visit to the doctor was also covered by my beloved card. But I knew I should have gone to the doctor sooner than I did but the (fortunately unfounded) fear of the costs had made me wait and hope that I would get better without any intervention.
It's a little parable, really. I could have gone to a doctor with a scheduled appointment and been prescribed the antibiotics I needed after a 10 minute examination but instead I left it and ended up having a ride in an ambulance and using hospital resources which was a far more costly option for all concerned. Preventative treatment is cheaper than reactive treatment, but if you price people out of preventative treatment then reactive is all that is left.
Privatising the NHS is a bad idea. It's bad on a personal level, it's bad on a societal level and it's bad on an economic level. At the moment we don't really notice the privatisation but it's growing. We can't let it succeed. The NHS is one of the few things we can be unashamedly proud of in our country and the thought of losing it less than 100 years after its creation is unconscionable.
-----------------------------------------------
I know I haven't done a very good job of convincing you that this privatisation is happening. Like I say, it's outside my area of expertise and I want to maintain credibility and the only way to do that is to admit my limitations. I really recommend reading the links I've provided below and keeping an eye out in the press for the stories. They won't be front page news, but they will be there. I'm going to keep a closer eye out and when I see important stories I'll try and post them here. In the meantime, when people complain about the NHS with its waiting lists and shortage of beds remind people that, though it's not perfect it's worth protecting. They wouldn't like the alternative.
Articles with more details on the privatisation:
The race to privatise the NHS
"Cameron lied" says leader of the National Health Action Party
The conspiracy to privatise the NHS
Places that are trying to stop privatisation:
NHS for Sale
Keep Our NHS Public
National Health Action Party
NHS Support Federation
I've grown up with the NHS. I've been fairly healthy most of my life, no broken bones or serious illnesses to speak of. But I've always known that if something did happen to me help was always at hand. I've been to A&E a few times, always with minor things that were resolved easily, though I've had family and friends who've been admitted with more serious maladies. Routine surgery, emergency surgery, longer-term care for illnesses like cancer, some successful, some not. In this, I'm sure, I'm not unusual.
And because of this we take the NHS for granted. It's always there, ready and waiting. We bitch and moan about it, but anyone who's ever been on holiday abroad knows that healthcare can be costly and yet it's a cost we never have to worry about. That's not to say we don't pay for the NHS. We do. Through our taxes: income tax, VAT, business taxes, all those little bits the Chancellor adds to beer and cigarettes and petrol every budget. It all goes into the pot so that when we get ill, all we have to worry about is getting better and all our doctors have to worry about is fixing us.
We don't realise how lucky we are. America is currently trying to tear itself apart over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. All the bill does is reduce insurance premiums for some people and yet it's being treated like the beginning of the End Times by Republicans. Medical bills account for 62% of US bankruptcies yet that just doesn't happen in the UK. The TV series Breaking Bad could not have been made in the UK, and not just because there is no substantial meth market. In the UK version, Walter White would have gone to his doctor who would have referred him to a cancer specialist and he would have been given treatment and then left to get on with his life. This may sound idealised (I've not mentioned waiting time, for example) and it is because no matter how easy the treatment is to get, it's still an incredibly tough thing to have to deal with. Imagine having to deal with it and then wondering if you're going to be able to keep up your mortgage repayments.
The reason I compare us to the US system is because the Conservative government is trying to bring about a similar system here. That may sound conspiratorial and like I've gone slightly crazy but it's unfortunately true. The Conservative party has links to the major insurance companies in the US and many of the 'reforms' they have introduced are actually attempts at privatisation by stealth.
It is at this point I have to admit my lack of knowledge on the details. Part of the problem is the press is doing a terrible job at reporting on this so much of it is going on below the radar. The other reason I can't speak with authority is that this gets into the murky world of business dealings which is where my interest stops and my brain switches off. Suffice it to say, subcontracting services and outsourcing are just the start of the slide into privatisation. Some people are trying to make their voices heard and this is my attempt to do my part. I'll give links to some resources at the bottom of the page which give more details on what is being done and what we can do to try and stop it.
Who cares? Well, you would, if you got sick. Imagine having to pay to see your doctor. Every time. It might not be such a big deal, after all, you're generally healthy. But stop and think if you developed an illness. What then? Those monthly check-ups would soon start to add up. What if you have children? Every time they get sick (which I'm led to understand children do quite frequently) it's another trip to the doctor and another £10, or £20 or £30 before you've even got your diagnosis.
Maybe we could pay a monthly fee instead. This idea was recently proposed by a former Labour health minister, Lord Warner. He proposed we all a pay £10 a month "membership fee". On the face of it that doesn't sound too bad, but what about all those people for whom £10 is the difference between being able to have food for every meal and having to go hungry? We already have unprecedented numbers using food banks, do we really want to make a bad situation worse? Maybe there could be some cut-off point, below which you were exempt from paying, then it wouldn't be so bad. A tenner a month isn't that much. But think about it. At the moment there's no need to track anyone. The only thing doctors have on us are our medical records to tell them what is wrong with us. This system would require the addition of a file of payments. Each patient would need a payment record. That record would need to be managed via administrators. Every single person in the country would have to have their records updated every month. Think of the cost. Think of the potential for error. And what happens if you get taken to hospital and are found to be a month in arrears? Do they turf you back onto the street? Or make you pay what you owe before you're taken to surgery? If you've got a long-term illness will you have to pay a bit more? If you've never seen a doctor will you get a discount? This is starting to sound a lot like an insurance scheme. . .
Access to free healthcare is not a privilege. It's not even a right, really, though it should be if we want to consider ourselves a civilised nation. It's the cheapest way of keeping a country functioning. As I said in my very first post of this reawakened blog, the NHS was not begun by do-gooders wanting to feel philanthropic, it was begun by people recognising that all these people too ill to work were harming the economy. I don't deny there was an element of do-goodery, but the way they were able to sell it was by saying "look at all these people too sick to work. Imagine if we were able to treat them for not really that much and then get them back into jobs". What is better for the economy: someone who loses a leg and is not being able to afford the physio and false leg they need to start living their life, or someone who loses a leg and is given the treatment and aftercare they need to get back to work, earn money, spend money and generally play their part in keeping the economy moving?
It seems strange to justify the existence of the NHS using what feels like a right-wing argument. It is, after all, seeing people as little more than carriers of money. I find it curious that this argument isn't recognised by the right-wing and it makes me question their commitment to growing the economy. How can an economy grow when people are spending a significant proportion of their wages on health insurance and saving the rest for the excess and inevitable premium increases should they have the temerity to get sick some time in the future? How much worse would our economy be right now if, on top of it all, everyone had to worry about how they would afford their next visit to the doctor?
I'll come full circle and finish my little tale of woe that I began at the start. A few weeks later I received a bill for €100. It was nowhere near as much as I'd feared (I'd had an ECG, blood tests and a chest x-ray during my short visit) but it was still more than I'd ever paid before. Luckily, as a UK student with a European Health Insurance Card and a recent bank statement from my UK bank I was able to get the charge waived. A subsequent visit to the doctor was also covered by my beloved card. But I knew I should have gone to the doctor sooner than I did but the (fortunately unfounded) fear of the costs had made me wait and hope that I would get better without any intervention.
It's a little parable, really. I could have gone to a doctor with a scheduled appointment and been prescribed the antibiotics I needed after a 10 minute examination but instead I left it and ended up having a ride in an ambulance and using hospital resources which was a far more costly option for all concerned. Preventative treatment is cheaper than reactive treatment, but if you price people out of preventative treatment then reactive is all that is left.
Privatising the NHS is a bad idea. It's bad on a personal level, it's bad on a societal level and it's bad on an economic level. At the moment we don't really notice the privatisation but it's growing. We can't let it succeed. The NHS is one of the few things we can be unashamedly proud of in our country and the thought of losing it less than 100 years after its creation is unconscionable.
-----------------------------------------------
I know I haven't done a very good job of convincing you that this privatisation is happening. Like I say, it's outside my area of expertise and I want to maintain credibility and the only way to do that is to admit my limitations. I really recommend reading the links I've provided below and keeping an eye out in the press for the stories. They won't be front page news, but they will be there. I'm going to keep a closer eye out and when I see important stories I'll try and post them here. In the meantime, when people complain about the NHS with its waiting lists and shortage of beds remind people that, though it's not perfect it's worth protecting. They wouldn't like the alternative.
Articles with more details on the privatisation:
The race to privatise the NHS
"Cameron lied" says leader of the National Health Action Party
The conspiracy to privatise the NHS
Places that are trying to stop privatisation:
NHS for Sale
Keep Our NHS Public
National Health Action Party
NHS Support Federation
Comments