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Oct 2015
11:19am, 9 Oct 2015
3,623 posts
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Doctor K
Clare Short in a book written in 2005 said that tax credits were fine as far as they went but should only be a "short term measure." At some stage they needed to be done away with and the Tories have taken on the job. They'll be hammered for it of course.
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Oct 2015
1:01pm, 9 Oct 2015
2,428 posts
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Molesy
I'd be inclined to cut back on some of the services provided by the NHS. Whilst it may seem harsh to say it I really don't think that the NHS should be funding hugely expensive cancer drugs that do not provide any form of recovery but will only delay the inevitable for a short period.
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Oct 2015
1:23pm, 9 Oct 2015
613 posts
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Cheg
They are tough decisions Molesy, and I can definitely see that as an area to target. I'm hoping to benefit from IVF funding but can totally see why funding is being cut or removed in that area.
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Oct 2015
1:38pm, 9 Oct 2015
2,430 posts
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Molesy
Whilst I'm incredibly proud of the NHS and have an 18 year old son who would not be alive today if not for the skill of NHS surgeons I do wonder if it should be seen in the same way as pensions. Should the NHS be providing a minimum level of care with anything above that being provided by private insurance?
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Oct 2015
1:41pm, 9 Oct 2015
6,748 posts
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Binks
We just had IVF on the NHS. I had a niggling doubt about this given my libertarian bent but I justified it by saying that I've paid for it already.
Using one of those "where your taxes go" calculators I estimate that in the 6 years I have known my wife we have contributed £42k to "health spending" of the government. We've not used it that much, so rather than pay £5k for an IVF cycle we went NHS.
I'd rather the NHS did less and charged us less.
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Oct 2015
1:47pm, 9 Oct 2015
22,622 posts
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Johnny Blaze
Aping the Tories won Labour three elections.
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Oct 2015
1:48pm, 9 Oct 2015
2,431 posts
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Molesy
Looking at the graph on the BBC NHS deficit article one does have to ask what happened in 2013 to wreck something that appeared relatively stable?
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Oct 2015
1:59pm, 9 Oct 2015
7,298 posts
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rf_fozzy
The answer for the NHS is to get rid of all the marketisation and financial rubbish that was imposed on the NHS.
Instead of dept x charging dept y for z service (and thus requiring administrators, accounts etc), just provide the service required at the cost.
And get the amount of staff required on permanent contracts (with sensible working conditions, not those trying to be imposed by that idiot Hunt), rather than relying on agency staff, locums and so forth.
New Labour and the Tories are equally responsible for the mess it's in.
PFIs, NHS Foundation trusts etc etc are all part of the problem.
Private insurance and healthcare is NOT the answer - it just ends up being far more expensive and inefficient in the long run. There are any number of studies by loads of different groups that show this.
The poorest in the US have no healthcare, as they cannot afford it as each provider has to provide competing services, so you end up paying more.
A hybrid system (insurance or private for some stuff) isn't the answer either, because as we've already seen in the hybrid "experiments" due enforced marketisation, private companies tend to cherry-pick the more profitable services, and the NHS would be left to pick up all the expensive stuff.
It's a typical example of "free market" economics (which is rubbish anyway) being applied to an area where it is totally inappropriate. Get rid of it.
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Oct 2015
2:02pm, 9 Oct 2015
7,299 posts
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rf_fozzy
Binks. "I'd rather the NHS did less and charged us less."
That's fine. Until you are out running and are hit by a car and require emergency life saving care, are in hospital for weeks/months and then require extensive rehab.
Or you get cancer and require incredibly expensive radiotherapy, followed by surgery.
The "I've not used the £x I've paid in" is an incredibly blinkered and short-sighted view.
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Oct 2015
2:02pm, 9 Oct 2015
201 posts
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Shadowless Formless Legs
Bloody hell! I actually agree with Fozzy.
Varoufakis made this point on question time a couple of weeks ago. 'Marketisation' of Schools / Hospitals etc is a ridiculous notion.
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