AIBU to not be remotely bothered that Rishi has private healthcare

[MXVIT]

I'm really not - it's an absolutely ridiculous thing for us to be getting worked up about.

He's the prime minister - of course he has private healthcare. Leaders of the country need to be fit and well and therefore need the best healthcare money can buy - we can all agree the NHS is not that - and thats a separate conversation.

By that logic lets ban all childless babysitters, all dogless dogwalkers.

Honestly as a country I feel we're that addicted to getting ourselves into a frenzy over everything that we're focussing on the wrong things.

The narrative of "the poorest of society don't have this - so NO ONE CAN" is getting more and more common lately.

He's obnoxiously wealthy, so yes it's perfectly reasonable for him to have private health care. But the issue is that his wealth and privileged lifestyle mean that he is completely out of touch with the average pleb. How anyone in that position with zero social experience of the real world can effectively govern the country is beyond me.

So yes, German tax payers pay around the same but private insurance pays 23%. Here it is £0. Hence the difference. The German model is preferable. But we have the sacred cow NHS and we are fools not to consider updating the model.

You've said this so perfectly.

How does any of that affect that healthcare spend per capita?

Where it comes from is irrelevant in many ways.

If Germany spends $6,500 per patient and we spend $4,200 then they're getting significantly more resources expended on each patient. It undermines the witless argument that we simply can't spend any more.

Yep. What’s ‘man of the people’ anyway and what’s so great about it

Agree with pp they just need to deliver. I’m a bit over personality politics anyway where they fill the headlines as Boris did.

I think people are bothered because the tories have decimated the NHS over the past 12 years but they won’t feel the effects because they’re elitist and can afford to go private.

Boris is a man of the people.

Basically it's a man capable of pulling the wool over the eyes of the thick.

A man capable of getting ordinary people to vote against their own interests.

That's a man of the people, apparently.

I havent read the thread so Im sure others have pointed this out already...

Its not about saying he shouldn't have it - it's saying that the very fact he has private health care at all means he knows full well the NHS isn't fit for purpose, he's decided it isn't good enough for him and his family. BUT he is the one person who can do something to change that for the rest of us who aren't as financially privileged as he is. Yet he isn't. He doesn't care.

How is that difficult to understand ?

I do care about the pm but I think much more deeply than his or her health care arrangements. Such trivial discussion is partly why we have a mess. Many people don’t know much about anything that really matters. Voters know little about economics. Brexit outcomes, and numerous real issues that matter. Who has what health care is a side show. I think it’s important for the pm to get immediate care at a time that suits him/her. I actually want them at work!!

Oh so pp prefers Boris type

Takes all sorts I guess.

Yep to all this. And I’ve said before I wish people had better education in economics

Might help people not get sidetracked by silly questions as per thread

There’s a moral hazard in running something into the ground but not having to deal with the effects of that in a personal way

Yep.

Also, it's the problem with someone who doesn't use the NHS making decisions about it (likewise education). It's very easy to poorly fund public services that you'll never need to use. And if you've not just had a letter from the hospital saying that the urgent appointment that your GP feels you need, is likely to happen in 37+ weeks, you're not going to really understand or care about the reults of your decisions.

And would you rather they answered questions honestly, or avoided them?

I have a degree in economics.

It's the avoidance of the question that I'm concerned by.

I want openness and honesty in politicians, don't you?

Good work re the degree, I’ve been pretty clear I couldn’t care less about this specific question.

Really, it’s a private issue imo and I very much want journalists to do a better job and stop trying to get cheap headlines.

The state of the media is an annoyance. I don’t know how they improve though.

Stupid silly question though! Just a “gotcha”. She is a better journalist than this. They ask such silly questions because people can then label the PM dishonest. It’s not dishonest to avoid a stupid question. Does anyone think the nation cared if Winston Churchill continued with private health care after the NHS was formed. Who cared? We need to move away from this type of stupid question. Of course people using private services know the pitfalls of state services. Why do you think they avoid them? In fact they probably have good ideas for improvement!

The NHS isn't fit for purpose because we're treating expensive conditions (which often are life long AND self inflicted in some cases), people are living longer and it's like a big old leaky sieve haemorrhaging money every where.

We don't need a prime minister to tell us whether he uses private healthcare when it's totally obvious being a squillionaire that he does, we need a prime minister to stand up and say the model presently being used is not fit for purpose and we need to understand that it needs to be run completely differently. People need to pay for health insurance and more services provided by private companies. Nurses need to be paid more and all public service pensions sadly need to be cut.

And above all everyone needs to start being sensible and taking responsibility for their own health.

I'd rather Mr Starmer answer the question can a woman have a penis because that's actually something that affects far more of us on a personal level than whether Mr Sunak has private health insurance.

Yeah, but they'd also have huge numbers of extra patients to deal with who are currently being treated privately wouldn't they?

And if you think he doesn't care because he doesn't have to queue up for a GP appointment or wait for his letter saying his appointment is in 37 weeks then you're deluded. Don't you think he'd rather everyone have comprehensive healthcare for free at point of use. Not just because it'd be nice for us all but because it would be fucking amazing for him and his party. The prime minister that sorted out this shit show. What an accolade!! The is issue is if someone was honest enough to tell the public what really needs to be done to ensure a service that is adequate and properly funded (because taxation isn't enough) then the general public will be up in arms.

I don't have a degree in economics but have worked for the NHS.

I don’t remember this fully but Theresa May tried to be more honest about social care cost.

Just listening to radio who brought it up - they said she lost votes at that election

Voters in the end decide

He's the prime minister - of course he has private healthcare.

Thats not why he can afford private healthcare, the salary of a PM isn’t huge (they make all the money when they leave office).

He can afford it because of his billionaire sugar mummy. Someone as out of touch as he is, whose wife used loopholes to avoid taxes, is not someone who has a clue how normal people live.

I agree he has no empathy. We saw that during Covid where he just batted-away complaints from the 3 million excluded self employed, casual workers and freelancers with glib comments such as "we can't help everyone". How crass!

Especially after his comments at the start of covid when he said "no one will be left behind". Well that didn't last long did it?

Then he lied in Parliament when he said he'd met with the excluded representation group, when he hadn't!

He only got away with it all because Labour were clueless and didn't understand (nor try to understand) the reasons etc., so couldn't get any successful attacks against Boris/Rishi who got away with their deceit.

Man of the people” for the sun reading, low income, left school at 16, Brexit voter, no children, non home owner

will have a different “man” than I do

Many countries have a tax payer only model.

We have only recently been paying in more.

In France avg nurse pay is 55,000 euros or £48,000.... they d be no strikes if nurses earned that here.

In Germany, its even higher.

Rishi sunak parents worked in the NHS as a GP and a pharmacist. He had a good upbringing but not fabulously wealthy. He's married into fabulous wealth, which apparently is a crime on Mumsnet