EU Membership Referendum (Brexit)

[firlandsfarm]

Maybe introduce a premium service which would mean more money for the NHS or some variant thereof.

Premium service? Do you mean pay extra for a premium ('business class' fast track) service? Political dynamite!

[firlandsfarm]

Yes, and to make the EU realise that the "withdrawal agreement" is no longer an option.

Why is it call an "Agreement"? Surely it takes 2 to make an agreement!

[BetBuddy]

I always find it strange that it doesn't cover dental costs at point of delivery. unhealthy teeth and gums can lead to further health complications, some of which are pretty serious.

Agreed, and why not dementia care? My mother was diagnosed with dementia for the last 3 years of her life ... 12 months after diagnosis she could have set fire to the block of warden assisted accommodation she lived in, her dementia caused her to start a fire but thankfully it was extinguished before it could spread beyond the kitchen. She was declared a risk to the building and had to be moved into care but we/she received no assistance and I had to pay £1,000pw for her care (the local authority couldn't find a place for her so she had to go private, had they found a place for her it would still have been £550pw!). Dementia is no less a medical matter than a broken leg but a broken leg is physically visible. She was 99 years 349 days old when she died, did her bit in WW2, always worked and the only State Benefit she ever claimed (other than care visitors to make sure she remembered to take her medicines) was the OAP. She had less than £20,000 of investments but that didn't stop the LA from trying to claim back the cost of her care visitors from her estate on a technicality that I successfully fought. She didn't deserve to be abandoned by the country for her last 2 years.

+1

From my understanding none of us paid enough NI or TAX to cover what the NHS actually needed. I read a medical article once that said from 1970 onwards eligible people should have been paying 17% NI to provide proper care and allow a surplus to be built up for future demands. It was never implemented as Governments thought it would be a vote loser. I think they got that totally wrong and is one reason why we have the current problems.

[firlandsfarm]

From my understanding none of us paid enough NI or TAX to cover what the NHS actually needed. I read a medical article once that said from 1970 onwards eligible people should have been paying 17% NI to provide proper care and allow a surplus to be built up for future demands. It was never implemented as Governments thought it would be a vote loser. I think they got that totally wrong and is one reason why we have the current problems.

Agreed. But as you rightly say Governments are extremely reluctant to introduce legislation that will lose votes. Our tax system has become muddled ... road tax is not for the roads, NIC's are not for the NHS and other State Benefits. I have felt for a while that there is a good case for an NHS tax that totally and exclusively funds the NHS then if the NHS needs boosting people can see how much it will cost them.

[wearthefoxhat]

Yes, and to make the EU realise that the "withdrawal agreement" is no longer an option.

Why is it call an "Agreement"? Surely it takes 2 to make an agreement!

Good point.

Nothing been signed off. It now exists more as a referral document, that may have one or two useful pages, that could be used in any future presentation. Your guess is as good as mine which ones are the useful pages, but that's all part of the fun....

[weemac]

Having recently lived for 7 years in an EU country with only a private insurance type of health system and where even aspirin costs 10 times what it does here, I now think that our NHS is one of the finest institutions ever devised. The alternative is considerably shorter life expectancy for those who don't have bundles of cash to stick in an envelope to hand under the counter to their "care provider" for the treatment they need.

[greenmark]

I always find it strange that it doesn't cover dental costs at point of delivery. unhealthy teeth and gums can lead to further health complications, some of which are pretty serious.

Agreed, and why not dementia care? My mother was diagnosed with dementia for the last 3 years of her life ... 12 months after diagnosis she could have set fire to the block of warden assisted accommodation she lived in, her dementia caused her to start a fire but thankfully it was extinguished before it could spread beyond the kitchen. She was declared a risk to the building and had to be moved into care but we/she received no assistance and I had to pay £1,000pw for her care (the local authority couldn't find a place for her so she had to go private, had they found a place for her it would still have been £550pw!). Dementia is no less a medical matter than a broken leg but a broken leg is physically visible. She was 99 years 349 days old when she died, did her bit in WW2, always worked and the only State Benefit she ever claimed (other than care visitors to make sure she remembered to take her medicines) was the OAP. She had less than £20,000 of investments but that didn't stop the LA from trying to claim back the cost of her care visitors from her estate on a technicality that I successfully fought. She didn't deserve to be abandoned by the country for her last 2 years.

I totally agree the state should pick up the bill for dementia. We can't cast people and their families adrift. Our GDP is 2.6 trillion. It's all about priorities and distribution of wealth. I'm not a Socialist, but there must be a better way.

[jongup]

Having recently lived for 7 years in an EU country with only a private insurance type of health system and where even aspirin costs 10 times what it does here, I now think that our NHS is one of the finest institutions ever devised. The alternative is considerably shorter life expectancy for those who don't have bundles of cash to stick in an envelope to hand under the counter to their "care provider" for the treatment they need.

May I ask what the incentive was to go to a country with this type of health care? Higher wages?If the aspirin is 10x higher, I'm hoping your wages are 10x higher too. Now imagine if you could go to a country where your wages will be much higher but your health care is free

[firlandsfarm]

Having recently lived for 7 years in an EU country with only a private insurance type of health system and where even aspirin costs 10 times what it does here

Who is selling the medicines, private suppliers or some form of government nationalised supplier?

[firlandsfarm]

I totally agree the state should pick up the bill for dementia. We can't cast people and their families adrift. Our GDP is 2.6 trillion. It's all about priorities and distribution of wealth. I'm not a Socialist, but there must be a better way.

"Care" in all it's forms is the only nationalised service I approve of.

[weemac]

Having recently lived for 7 years in an EU country with only a private insurance type of health system and where even aspirin costs 10 times what it does here, I now think that our NHS is one of the finest institutions ever devised. The alternative is considerably shorter life expectancy for those who don't have bundles of cash to stick in an envelope to hand under the counter to their "care provider" for the treatment they need.

May I ask what the incentive was to go to a country with this type of health care? Higher wages?If the aspirin is 10x higher, I'm hoping your wages are 10x higher too. Now imagine if you could go to a country where your wages will be much higher but your health care is free

The reasons for going were personal. Wages there are about a third of the UK average (state school teachers earn about 750 euros per month), so aspirin was actually about 30 times more expensive. Property's very cheap, but nothing else is.

[greenmark]

I totally agree the state should pick up the bill for dementia. We can't cast people and their families adrift. Our GDP is 2.6 trillion. It's all about priorities and distribution of wealth. I'm not a Socialist, but there must be a better way.

"Care" in all it's forms is the only nationalised service I approve of.

My feelings exactly.

[weemac]

Having recently lived for 7 years in an EU country with only a private insurance type of health system and where even aspirin costs 10 times what it does here

Who is selling the medicines, private suppliers or some form of government nationalised supplier?

State owned chemist shops. It's impossible to buy even basic painkillers in a supermarket.

[ShaunWhite]

I totally agree the state should pick up the bill for dementia. We can't cast people and their families adrift. Our GDP is 2.6 trillion. It's all about priorities and distribution of wealth. I'm not a Socialist, but there must be a better way.

"Care" in all it's forms is the only nationalised service I approve of.

100% agree about the dementia..and parkinsons and other age related afflictions.
As for nationalisation, I think it should apply to all national infrastucure but not necessarily it's operation. But certain things like roads, power, health, education, housing & policing all require joined up thinking not often found in private enterprise. The problem with nationalisation wasn't nationalisation per se, it was the way it was being managed. If that happens in business you change the management team, not sell the company. I wonder how many billions have been lost in national income, lost to the shareholders of these companies.

[brimson25]

... Which are often the state-owned companies of other countries, something which seems to me to be ludicrous. This is particularly evident with railways, which ARE state run, in many cases. Just not by our state.