To think the time has come to abolish the NHS healthcare model

[OptimismvsRealism]

Free at the point of use also means denial of care to a lot of people. What torture to know that new medications are arriving regularly (eg lecanemab) but it's only for the very wealthy.

The UK is different from how it was in 1948. We should be brave enough to move on from then.

Thank you @JenniferBooth .

The question is how to motivate fat, and sugar are addictive and carbs are cheaper than lean protein, esp meat, the alternative is pulses.
Some have brought up with parents that over fed, and see it as normal , portion distortions is real

I completely agree with you @Nsky62 . Ten percent of the NHS budget is spent on diabetes, mostly type 2, which is mostly related to obesity.

Thats the point of national insurance though, it spreads the cost. Some people on minimum wage will never use the NHS and some earning millions will require treatment that even their hefty tax contributions wont have fully covered.

The point is, that the NHS probably only gets a fraction of £2500 to provide the treatment you had, plus they have to provide it at the same price for everyone else regardless of their comorbidities etc, essentially at a higher cost.

I think you'll only see the value in the nhs when you need a treatment that either isnt available, or that yku cannot afford privately...

Regrettably that isn't the case @FixTheBone. I have severe osteoporosis, probably arising from a combination of genetics and severe and late diagnosed Graves in my late 20s, six fractures in six years. The optimal treatment is teriparatide daily injections for two years at a cost of £2,400. Nice guidelines do not allow it because I am under 65. I had to pay. Admittedly insurance didn't pick it up either. It had a significant positive impact.

Re the graves I want to the GP three times in 18 months feeling rotten. Three times I was dismissed. Eventually my lower legs swelled and the HR person of the bank I was working made me an appointment with the company Dr. 24 hours later I was diagnosed and on my way to a specialist as there were concerns for my heart. The NHS did not then offer sub total thyroidectomies to women planning families. The optimal treatment was available privately.

I could provide a longer list.

If, on the other hand I had a BMI of 35 due to gorging on pies and donuts, the NHS would fund weight loss drugs.

A good start would be a higher rate of vat on fast food, takeaways, crisps, chocolate bars, fizzy drinks, pies etc. Plus remove zero rate vat on cakes and other high sugar, high fat processed foods. Only keep zero rate vat on basic foodstuffs such as fruit and veg, raw meat and fish, bread, milk and cheese, etc - basically perishables only, anything that needs to be stored in fridges or at lower temperatures is zero rated. Make healthy options cheaper than unhealthy.

Of course, the public won’t stand for that. Just look at the pasty tax fiasco where a perfectly reasonable suggestion of vat on Cooling pasties was suggested. Had to be overturned because of the backlash.

Anyway, when food banks are happily handing out high fat, high sugar, heavily processed tins and packets full of additives and preservatives, any vat increase won’t change behaviour will it, because the food bank users aren’t paying, so maybe better to ban food banks from handing out the crap heavily processed stuff.

@taxguru regrettably the food banks have to provide food that keeps and that tends to be tinned meat, fish and veg, and of course beans but probably baked. They also have no idea of people's individual cooking skills.

Personally I would prefer schools to support learning around money management and cooking rather than the obsession with art and DT.

I fully agree. I was just making the point that increasing the cost of unhealthy food won’t change behaviour of those either with money or those using food banks. I agree far better health and lifestyle teaching is needed in schools, but I also think schools need to improve their piss poor teaching of DT too as it often puts people off manual skilled works and trades.

I gave up smoking in 2005 Last time i bought a pack of cigarettes they were £3.65 I have no idea what they cost now but i do know a few hardcore smokers who for constantly increasing the price has made no difference

In your opinion funding isn’t broken. And yet clearly it is. You believe that there can never be ringfenced funds. And yet other countries have systems that do ensure ringfenced funds and long term security. Why are we not entitled to the same? Why not learn from what works. To willfully chose not to is either arrogance, ideology or ignorance. Or perhaps, just afraid of change. I have sympathy for the latter…but none of the rest.

In your opinion funding isn’t broken. And yet clearly it is.

Please explain how this clarity is manifested.