I do really believe that we as people don’t use it efficiently, though. Not a popular thing to say but it is true. We all know that we treat things that are free differently to those that we have to fund ourselves. That is a fact no one can argue with. There might be some individuals who maybe don’t, but as a group of people, it holds true.
Therefore, the NHS becomes a bottomless pit. However, in times of plenty the effects are not felt as much, but, when the times are hard it becomes a problem.
Yes, we can say that we pay taxes, we elected our government and therefore it is their job to fix it. I’m not a strong supporter of any party, btw. But as in my previous post, we as individuals pay far less into the system than citizens in many other European countries. So effectively we do want more for less, which I think it’s fine if that’s how the system works. The problem is that that is how the structure of the system functions but we can see that it doesn’t actually work.
And I repeat, the European systems are nothing like the US. Yes, they pay more but it’s in relation to someone’s income. Not like in the US where this is the bill regardless of how much you earn. And if I had to vote I wouldn’t want to change the NHS as I wouldn’t want to start paying more.
However, I also know that I have visited GP before with small niggly things that have just gone away on their own in the end. If I do it there is plenty of other people who do it. Add them all up and the system feels it. We get offended when anyone suggests we should change our behaviour, especially as looking at one person’s behaviour in isolation will never seem to have any significant impact. To repeat myself, add them all up….
I don’t have ideological views or proposed solutions because yes I like that it is ‘free’. But it is a complex problem, because it is free and because it is publicly run. All these things just don’t merry up. It’s like living in a big old house that is difficult to heat with huge running costs. It’s ok during summer and whilst the owner had a job with decent salary. But now they lost their job, savings only go as far, and it is winter. It might be best to sell the house and downscale.
I wouldn’t want to try to comment too much on the fact that yes, somehow, the government seems to find magic money in some instances, such as PPE, which they did rightly so, apart from the fact they mismanaged it on multiple occasions. But there is also a difference between one off cash (albeit) huge sums and regular cash inflow.
But again, yes, there will be a lot of mismanagement which is what the OP is addressing. But that is public service, it’s just because is health people feel it much more. Public service will never be run as efficiently as private enterprises. Because public service provides free service for people and there are no or hardly any limits to what people can use, and so people will in general max it out, including me with my niggly things.