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Dumping the free lunch — 7 Comments

  1. With this being an entirely sensible proposition, it could never therefore be allowed to take place by those most affected by it.

    And "they" would be all of the nannying and hectoring "public health" lobby groups who would no longer have a reason to exist.

    But to the taxpayers this would also be a huge benefit, whilst all of that money no longer funding the NGO's could go towards the portion of healthcare funded by taxpayers.

  2. I don't much like your idea, G'dad. For some forty years, I paid 'National Insurance' contributions. The whole point of those payments was for 'health and welfare' insurance. In the same way that they did with 'road tax', the politicians gradually subsumed those payments into general taxation. 

    The solution to the health service funding problems is to reinstate the ring fencing of national insurance. But that does not mean that health services should be able to spend national insurance contributions on things which are not DIRECTLY concerned with health care, such as anti-smoker campaigns and research associated with such things. Such things ought to be totally separate from health care. 

    There is a fallacy that 'prevention' is part of health care. It is not. Prevention is political. 

    • Likewise here we had "Pay Related Social Insurance" which was the same deal.  I saw somewhererecently that Ireland spends more per capita on health than any other country yet we are bottom of the league with quality [second longest waiting times in Europe].  The system is in a complete mess, top heavy with overpaid management and not enough ground staff.  Most people here are so scared of the public system that they [and I] have very expensive private policies.  The gubmint are now promising "free healthcare for all" which will just open the flood gates.  The whole system really needs to be torn down and rebuilt from the foundations.

  3. What about someone who gets knocked off their motorbike? Do they pay more or wait (even) longer because they "should have bought a car" instead of 125cc of snarling death?

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