To ask you to sign this - protecting the NHS from US trade deals

[Icantreachthepretzels]

Just that really. Today Donald Trump has said that the NHS must be on the table in all UK/US post brexit trade deals. His ambassador to Britian has said something similar as well. A few Tory leadership candidates are now making statements about how they would protect the NHS should they be PM. They are rattled and we need to rattle them further - make them see how much the NHS means to us.

I'm sure everybody has heard the horror stories of people losing their homes or going bankrupt if they get ill in the States, of how poor people can't afford basic care and how people are trapped in jobs they hate because they can't move without losing their insurance.

If that is not something you want for you or your children or your elderly relatives, please sign this petition - and let the government know that we will not stand for private healthcare with massive insurance premiums that many of us cannot afford.

Whether leaver or remainer - this is not what we were promised in 2016, but it is what we will get if we don't kick up a fuss.
hands off our NHS please sign and share

bump. It was on 80 000 when I signed it yesterday evening - it's now on well over 200 000. Please help keep the momentum going.

Why will allowing US companies to tender for NHS contracts mean that we abandon a free-at-the-point-of-use NHS?

There is no suggestion to change NHS model would be changed post-Brexit.

It's really just an 'I hate Trump' petition. I am not keen on him myself, but won't be signing.

@hereward1332, thepoint about allowing US companies to tender for NHS services means that we, in our most vulnerable state as patients become pawns in the battle for profit and margin. It’s not only US companies who are taking advantage of this crazy govt’s obsession with private profit,
But to my mind it will only make things worse for patients if we and treatments that we need are held over a barrel by US companies who have no care for our individual needs, only for their profit. Look at what happened to Cadbury’s for God’s Sake!

Every privately awarded contract means less resource in the NHS because those companies need a profit margin. Even a child could work that one out.

allowing US companies to tender for NHS services means that we, in our most vulnerable state as patients become pawns in the battle for profit and margin.

So why are you saying that it means people will lose their homes because they can't afford an insurance based system? No-one is suggesting one here.

Why do you think US companies will be any worse than European ones?

You might have a point if this was a petition about privatising healthcare, but it's not. It's specifically anti-American based on unsupported prejudice.

thanks for bumping the thread Hereward - means people who can understand the danger will get more of a chance to sign and do something about it.

But to my mind it will only make things worse for patients if we and treatments that we need are held over a barrel by US companies who have no care for our individual needs, only for their profit.
This

The danger is already here. UK subsidiaries of foreign companies are already winning NHS contracts e.g Virgin care.

Stop the privatisation, but don't pretend it isn't already here.

No thanks, the petition is a hyperbolic reaction to something which hasn't even been proposed in any noticeable detail.

Every privately awarded contract means less resource in the NHS because those companies need a profit margin. Even a child could work that one out.

So, just continue to self fund services even if a better cheaper alternative can be provided by a private third party? That will take out more resources than what you propose.

I said in the other thread, the unwillingness to allow any change whatsoever to an already imperfect NHS will be a bigger problem than what people seem to prefer to imagine up instead. The NHS isn't as perfect as you think it is.

Thank you. Signed.

@Cacacoisfarraige

I am in Ireland too and private insurance does not have to be 4,000 euros per family.

We are a family of 4, we pay a lot but much less than that in spite of my past condition which they bought.
We took a broker to find us the best insurance. He was not cheap but best money we spent as he knows all the deal on the market and was able to find us the best one at a much lower cost we were quoted before.

I urge you to shop around.

Cheaper alternatives are rarely better. Privatisation of hospital cleaning and catering are cases in point. To get the cost down standards have been cut. Like I said, it’s common sense, you get what you pay for.

Done, and shared on facebook.

Signed

And i should have said that we have the top.

Lots of private companies are already paid from NHS budget to provide NHS services. NHS trusts also try to make a profit, they're just not very good at it. Why do you think waits are so long? Because they're running services as cheaply as possible so they can look after their bottom line.

To my understanding the NHS must advertise large contracts under EU law and companies all around the world can, and do, bid.

The horse has bolted on privatisation.

NHS trusts aren’t allowed to make a profit.

No thanks, the petition is a hyperbolic reaction to something which hasn't even been proposed in any noticeable detail.

Same, won't be signing.

NHS trusts aren’t allowed to make a profit.

They're very much encouraged not to spend their entire budgets.

'There is no suggestion to change NHS model would be changed post-Brexit'.

Yes there is, unless you don't want to see it. This is someone that many people want to see PM:

descrier.co.uk/politics/nigel-farage-caught-video-calling-privatisation-nhs-despite-ukip-claims/

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-nhs-might-have-to-be-replaced-by-private-health-insurance-9988904.html

etc etc. Some people are seriously sleepwalking into a situation from which it will be extremely difficult to get out of.

I would like to sign this. While we are at it can we also start a petition to stop JC taxing people’s gardens if he becomes PM?

So you've dredged up a 7 year old video from a fringe politician to claim that an end to the NHS is imminent.

In terms of a UK-US trade agreement that is irrelevant.

NHS trusts are required to balance their books; few if any of them manage it. No way would they underspend as that would reduce funding for the following year. HTH.