VAT on private health

[Simonandrod]

Am I right in thinking there isn't VAT on private health care? Is it completely unfeasible that it could be put on and money raised go to NHS? Or is it too complicated as so many people who use it have health insurance? Just interested

I did that.

The service was amazing. They were so kind, efficient and nice.

We named our daughter for the IVF co-ordinator 😀. She was so lovely.

If we have no private hospitals there will probably be a drop in tax income. Gov benefits from tax income from following sources from a private hospital:
If paid by employer employee pays BIK tax emploer pays Class 1 A on BIK
The docs, nurses and staff employed all pay tax on income earnt in private hospital
The private hospital pays tax on its profits (alot of private schools don't make a great profit so don't pay much tax)
All this probably adds up to more tax which could be lost if hospitals closed.
On top of this gov benefits from private hospitals often providing over flow care for NHS without nhs taking on the full costs involved and getting that over flow quicker than building a hospital (a lot of private beds got used in covid as overflow)

Along with this is docs couldn't earn more by doing private work they would probably leave country and thus leave nhs in an even worse state.

It's not always as simple as slapping 20% VAT on something and you are 20% up in income.

Yes. Healthcare is a delicate ecosystem that has built up over many years and the NHS is interwoven with private system. You disrupt that at your peril - look at the problems the govt has had with Drs pensions when they imposed a cap; those snr Drs reduced their hours/retired. How did that benefit the NHS? There is plenty of evidence that Drs are highly mobile and will move abroad if pay/conditions are not satisfactory. You can’t handwave that away and say but it’s not fair. There aren’t enough Drs as it is, we need to value those we have!

On your last point, it will be interesting to see how much VAT is actually collected on school fees. The analysis that Labour is relying on for their figures makes a lot of assumptions. One is that those parents who do switch to the state sector will spend their £20k on VATable luxury goods (holidays, cars etc) so they will still get the VAT. It’s highly likely that at least some will pay down their mortgage, add to their pension or stick the money in an ISA which will raise zero VAT. Labour’s done a “back-of-a-fag-packet” calculation. A lot of their supporters want to ban private schools altogether - like people on here are saying they want to ban private healthcare. Why do you think they didn’t propose that? Because it will cost the taxpayer a fortune! All those socialist “principles” cost a lot of other people’s money.

I don’t believe for a minute that Sir Keir wld forgo private care for a family member if they were in extreme pain. He may not have used it, but when he was DPP, he may have had BUPA as part of his package. That wouldn’t be unusual at a snr level in the public sector - police chiefs have it. Has he/someone in his family never paid for private physio, private dental care, a private room in a hospital? Wld we expect our PM to be in a public ward in a hospital with his (armed) security?

Maybe they could put VAT on income tax that would boost the coffers. Before you say that’s ridiculous and you can’t tax tax, they already do with petrol.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/young-go-private-amid-frustration-at-nhs-care-d2mps5gv3

This may be of interest to some on this thread. It’s based on a survey. It shows a generational shift in attitudes and use of private health care with 40% of young people paying for a private GP. Your attitude and experience to private medicine may vary by region. In London private GPs and private A&E for minor procedures are abundant and available at times which fit in with busy working lives.

I pay tax on my private healthcare as it is done via an insurance policy through work. It’s not VAT as you can’t charge VAT on insurance but you pay IPT instead. The companies themselves also pay tax on their earnings.