Sajid Javid: he wants us to pay twice for NHS GP and A&E services.
How strange that a former Health Secretary doesn’t understand how the National Health Service is funded and wants to charge us twice for the same service!
Here’s the story:
Patients should be charged for GP appointments and visits to A&E, Sajid Javid has said, as he called the present model of the NHS “unsustainable”.
The former health secretary said “extending the contributory principle” should be part of radical reforms to tackle growing waiting times.
In an article for The Times, he called for a “grown-up, hard-headed conversation” about revamping the health service, adding that “too often the appreciation for the NHS has become a religious fervour and a barrier to reform”.
Downing Street told the newspaper the prime minister is not “currently” considering the proposals.
That last line is slightly reassuring, at least. Once the principle of paying for NHS services we’ve already funded gets embedded, there will be no reversing the march of commercialisation.
Let’s be clear, though: there is absolutely no reason for anybody to pay for NHS appointments because Javid’s argument is nonsense.
Making people pay won’t stop people from being sick – it will stop the poorest from being treated. And that would defeat the fundamental principle of the NHS: universal healthcare.
Absolutely not under any circumstances. pic.twitter.com/SYkFXE7NPf
— Andy Burnham (@AndyBurnhamGM) January 21, 2023
If we’re going to oppose Javid’s lunacy, though, we ought at least to propose something else. Here’s Richard Murphy:
There are 367 million GP appointments in the NHS each year. Assuming everyone had to pay (and I bet children and pensioners would not) at £20 a time that would raise £7.3bn in extra revenue.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) January 21, 2023
So, Javid wants to raise £9.1 billion a year by imposing a sickness tax on those wanting to see a doctor. But that’s before exemptions and before the massive cost of actually collecting this money, which can’t be ignored. So, let’s guess it’s £6 billion after exemptions.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) January 21, 2023
I have suggested how to find the £30 billion required to pay for the NHS we need. Half would come from extra taxes paid simply as a result of spending the extra money on the NHS or by making people well enough to work again. In the real world that’s what happens.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) January 21, 2023
Or we could double the rate of capital gains tax and collect maybe £15bn a year. It is absurd that right now this tax, paid almost entirely by the wealthiest, is charged at half the rate of income tax. Wouldn’t that be better than charging the sick?
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) January 21, 2023
And there are other tax options as well on top of which the government could simply run a deficit to pay for this or do QE to fund the NHS as the Tories did for other crises.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) January 21, 2023
We need a debate on NHS funding but crass ideas from Sajid Javid and his like on NHS charging need to be dismissed out of hand when vastly better options from taxing the best off more fairly or from borrowing are available.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) January 21, 2023
A video explanation is here. https://t.co/VJtQT9icQY
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) January 21, 2023
Which would you prefer?
Source: Sajid Javid says patients should be charged for GP and A&E visits to ease waits | ITV News
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
