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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

people who say the NHS is free?

251 replies

Sallygoround631 · 02/04/2022 00:17

It isn't free. This is truly absurd. It is funded by us, and always has been.

I see this so often on MN, and in all seriousness too, as if it is a free gift the government give to us.
I've read more than one poster suggesting we wouldn't have an obesity epidemic if the MHS wan't 'free', and that the US healthcare system would benefit us!
WTAF?
Because the US has never had an obesity issue....

How can anyone of adult age in the uk think the NHS costs us nothing?
Christ, and you wonder why the government takes the piss.

OP posts:
tontown · 02/04/2022 07:23

I think for a lot it's free in terms of how much contributions they make or have made. I mean free prescriptions for everyone over 60 is ridiculous, that's 23% of the population & growing.

AchillesPoirot · 02/04/2022 07:23

@Lightning020

We also have to pay for our prescriptions. Most of us do anyway.
Not in all areas of the UK.
Igotchills · 02/04/2022 07:24

It’s free at point of use. You can rock up to A& E and aren’t going to get a huge bill at the end of your visit. The, relatively small, NI contributions are a drop in the ocean to what you would have to pay for maternity care, a broken leg, your child’s health until adulthood etc.

This American lady in the U.K. is always raving about the NHS because, having lived in the states, she knows how much it could cost.

people who say the NHS is free?
Tynetime · 02/04/2022 07:25

I was a DNA in a poxy 2WW clinic because they didn't arrive me. Knew the clinic was running late so didn't twig for over an hour.
Unfortunately staff are not robots and occasionally make mistakes .

Tynetime · 02/04/2022 07:26

@tontown they are scrapping that. Will be linked to retirement age.

marcopront · 02/04/2022 07:27

*cool your tits love, im not interested in a fight

Igotchills · 02/04/2022 07:28

@Lightning020

We also have to pay for our prescriptions. Most of us do anyway.
And the cost of your prescription doesn’t often cover the cost of the item. People have creams that cost the NHS £70 but only pay the prescription charge.
people who say the NHS is free?
gingerhills · 02/04/2022 07:29

I agree with OP. There was a letter in one of the papers the other day accounting for how much money the government took from someone who is paid £100 per hour. If you add up tax, NI, VAT on fuel, work clothes etc, it ended up being about 80%. I was gobsmacked.

We pay. The NHS is appalling badly run. More money should go into health and less into its cumbersome administration.

Cheesechips · 02/04/2022 07:30

I'd be interested to know the percentage of income tax being used to fund the NHS. It's certainly not free for working people! I think people who want it to be an Americanised system are either naive or have enough money for insurance.

Tynetime · 02/04/2022 07:30

Sorry not confirmed yet but will probably happen.

Tynetime · 02/04/2022 07:31

Bit will probably happen soon as have been consulting on in.

Fridafever · 02/04/2022 07:32

You have to earn quite a lot to be a net contributor overall don’t you? More than average - it’s something like top 30% of earners.

AchillesPoirot · 02/04/2022 07:33

[quote Tynetime]@tontown they are scrapping that. Will be linked to retirement age.[/quote]
There are free prescriptions in Scotland and Northern Ireland and I think wales too.

The nhs covers more than England. It is uk wide.

tontown · 02/04/2022 07:33

The, relatively small, NI contributions are a drop in the ocean to what you would have to pay for maternity care, a broken leg, your child’s health until adulthood etc.

I don't think the NI contributions are that small. If you earn 50k you pay over 5k & you pay it for decades.

tontown · 02/04/2022 07:36

@Tynetime it will happen because it's unsustainable

Tynetime · 02/04/2022 07:39

@AchillesPoirot I know that but my response was to a comment specifically about over 60s. I had heard they were removing this benefit but it was only a consultation.
I do agree we have lots of discrepancies in the system where some long term conditions have free prescriptions but asthma, one of my conditions doesn't despite its ability to kill without medication.
Also the different rule within home nations

AchillesPoirot · 02/04/2022 07:40

But they aren’t consulting on removing it for over 60s anywhere but England.

picklemewalnuts · 02/04/2022 07:40

The vast majority of people receive more in government services than they pay for. School, health, benefits etc.
Most of us don't pay our way.
The top small percentage pay for the rest of us. I'm married to a tax payer, but I'm not currently a tax payer myself and haven't been most of my life. I have two DC who don't yet pay tax. One will be a high earner, the other has just started to pay back his student loan. I'd say in my apparently affluent family, at best only 2 out of the four of us will pay more than we consume.

Does anyone know what the figure is, when we pay more than we consume?

tigger1001 · 02/04/2022 07:40

@Mybobowler

Oh come on, everyone knows how the NHS is funded. We all know what "free at the point of use" means, and we're all familiar with the basic function of taxation and public spending. You wouldn't take this much issue with someone saying that their education was free, would you? The faux outrage on this thread is bizarre.
Agreed!
picklemewalnuts · 02/04/2022 07:42

The top 1% of earners generate 30% of the tax income.

picklemewalnuts · 02/04/2022 07:43

@picklemewalnuts

The top 1% of earners generate 30% of the tax income.
The top 10% earners pay 60% of the revenue generated
tontown · 02/04/2022 07:46

Does anyone know what the figure is, when we pay more than we consume?

I thought it was around 40k. It's complicated though as wages have been devalued & assets inflated so more people need help. And obviously an ageing population skews it.

sst1234 · 02/04/2022 07:49

Not only is it not free, it is a money pit with poor outcomes. NHS spending has increase by 20% in the last decade and yet people regurgitate the same line about it needing yet more money.

picklemewalnuts · 02/04/2022 07:49

I've been Googling, it's £45-50k.
So I'm right with regards to my family- two of us cover ourselves, 2 of us don't.
Mind, in our case I'm a fairly frequent flyer with NHS and the other three don't see a doctor one decade to the next.
They are unlikely to have DC that need schooling, too. And we paid private for one and a half of them, reducing the burden on the state.

Baystard · 02/04/2022 07:54

Of course it is free at the point of service but that's not what OP means.

For those "it is free/ you're being disingenuous" posters:
Imagine you paid someone to clean your elderly mother's home once a week. After 3 months you discover that the cleaner doesn't always turn up and often they're rude to your mother. You ask your mother why she didn't complain or say anything and she says "because I didn't have to pay her - it was free". You'd surely be cross with cleaner but also at least a bit frustrated by your mother's attitude? Yes the service to the service user was free to her but you'd paid for it.

All that said, I think that the majority of the problem with the NHS is that we pay about 70% of what a really good service would cost and expect them to do a loaves and fishes job with it.