That though is all debate over what is basic health care.
urgent lifesaving surgery is certainly on the list of basic stuff that everyone should get IMO.
Already in the NHS they are deciding how much IVF they might let people have (and I beleive it varies postcode to postcode) compared to how many people get the best treatment for cancer.
I think I'd like to see it stripped right back down to the absolute basics, and then anything that isn't an absolute basic should cost money.
I honesty can't see why folks should get free IVF. Subsidised IVF I'm much more cool with, if its really £15,000 a go and the NHS susidises that, but still makes people pay to have root cancal surgery done on their teeth, when they are in horrible pain, then there is something very wrong in the world. (I think there are many things very wrong in the world)
In the private system you describe, since capacity would be finite some interesting things would happen. Reduced supply, in this case of the "good hospital" you'd rather use, leads to increased price. This would mean that the "good hospital" would actually be only for the wealthy, leaving everyone else in the "mediocre to poor" establishments. That's if they could even afford them, since demand is higher than supply in all cases.
The way around that would be to introduce more competition into the sector, but since that requires:
a ) More doctors and nurses, of which standards of education and training place a natural limit on numbers. b ) Large capital investment.
It doesn't seem like the circumstances can exist for a naturally competitive market.
The NHS is very inefficient, but I suspect that's for political reasons really. The moves necessary to make it more efficient need to be implemented over decades, and short term political needs always mean things won't be given the time required.
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urgent lifesaving surgery is certainly on the list of basic stuff that everyone should get IMO.
Already in the NHS they are deciding how much IVF they might let people have (and I beleive it varies postcode to postcode) compared to how many people get the best treatment for cancer.
I think I'd like to see it stripped right back down to the absolute basics, and then anything that isn't an absolute basic should cost money.
I honesty can't see why folks should get free IVF. Subsidised IVF I'm much more cool with, if its really £15,000 a go and the NHS susidises that, but still makes people pay to have root cancal surgery done on their teeth, when they are in horrible pain, then there is something very wrong in the world. (I think there are many things very wrong in the world)
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The way around that would be to introduce more competition into the sector, but since that requires:
a ) More doctors and nurses, of which standards of education and training place a natural limit on numbers.
b ) Large capital investment.
It doesn't seem like the circumstances can exist for a naturally competitive market.
The NHS is very inefficient, but I suspect that's for political reasons really. The moves necessary to make it more efficient need to be implemented over decades, and short term political needs always mean things won't be given the time required.
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