To think we shouldn’t have to contribute to soch if we don’t intend to use it?

[slozenger]

For example, I don’t want a state pension - so I should surely be able to opt out of soch based contributions percentage. And just pay a lesser amount to cover anything I do take advantage of.

It really isn't. It you invent 'terms' that nobody has heard of, don't be surprised if posters question you 🤔

Lots of us are a lot older and never heard it either.

Guys, it’s pointless to engage further with this thread. The OP is clearly just the resurrected ghost of Margaret Thatcher.

😂I can see you are struggling to understand what the poster meant @slozenger . Back to school, must try harder!

Do you mean Sosh or Soc. (pronounced Soash) as in say the Scouse or London slang for being on benefits ie 'On the Soc.'?

Looked up SOCH thinking it was an abbreviation and drew a blank - then the penny dropped it means sosh, as in short for social security. Like the thread about "pench" yesterday.

That really wasn't self explanatory.

Sigh...

Yip I've seen a bill for someone giving birth in an ambulance 🚑 in a Walmart carpark.

That's not something I'd like to see in the UK.
That said there are people who think ambulances are an alternative to getting a lift to hospital.
Lots of people seemed to think calling an ambulance instead of asking family for a lift is acceptable answer for an injured child on another thread.

There are people on here that were born after it changed name so how would they know?
How are you so are unaware of this.

Life can change as you get older - feeling fit now is no guarantee.

Should the childless opt out of anything - benefits or education, that’s child related?. 🤷‍♀️

The old age pension is a universal benefit that everyone pays for. It's a universal safety net so that no-one has to starve in their old age. But it is not means tested, so all people with a private pension know they will also get an amount from the state. You just budget for old age bearing that in mind.

If you could opt out of part of NI and Tax, lots of people would. Mostly people who feel they can't afford to pay it. But they will also be the people who feel they can't afford to pay a private pension. So they will end up destitute and need state support anyway.

Just because you are convinced you will "not need it", doesn't mean the Government can take that for granted and let you opt out. And the fact you are quibbling about paying it probably means you aren't fabulously wealthy and actually probably will need it.

But anyway, our system isn't set up for you to opt in to the benefits you think you might need. That would be an administrative nightmare. If it's what you really want you should go to a country where taxes are low but you have to pay for the services you want.

It hasn't changed its name! The OP is using verbal slang which doesn't actually work written down. It's semi-literate which makes you wonder how the OP will fund this affluent retirement which they are confidently looking forward to.

It obviously wouldn’t be a public service if you had to pay more than others to use it. It would be a poor tax and we would become a two tier society.

The social contract changed often the two world wars because, funnily enough, it is the ‘lower’ working classes that make up the majority of conscripted soldiers that go out and fight. It was rightly realised that without access to things like basic healthcare there would not be high enough moral to persuade people to fight and those in poor health would make less effective soldiers.

Counties with a lower tax burden either have a large supply of oil or rely heavily on slave labour or both. Feel free to leave and go live somewhere else.

I am 47 and have never heard that phrase in my life.

You're the facetious one.

How rude!

I don’t think you know what ‘self-explanatory’ means. Esp as you have spelt it two different ways yourself.

There is no such thing as a non NHS user, the NHS provide all the emergency services and A&E facilities, private hospitals don't have these facilities. Private GPs can't issue free NHS prescriptions if you are entitled they run them through the NHS, Everyone uses the NHS to some extent or will have to at some point.

I'm 46, never heard of it.

No, I don’t think we should be able to pick and choose the bits of taxes we contribute to.

It really isn't

It's not a UK acronym at all

What if I picked not to contribute to health but then I needed treatment when old? Would you want a system where people are then left to die, as that’s their choice?

Equally, what if you lost everything and then needed the state pension? Would you want society to say “no you have to starve”?

Exactly, I'd recommend anyone who bashes the NHS to watch the Michael Moore film Sicko, which shows how the utopia US system works, and the huge amount it costs if you are not covered.

I've read up to here and thought the same thing the whole time. Who on earth pays this person £75k+ a year!

Having googled the meaning of 'soch', I now understand it to be a Hindi word for 'thought'. It does seem like the OP has already opted out of soch, so I suppose we can't really stop this.

No man is an island
(except possibly the Isle of Man)

Also - I've never heard the term Soch used before , we referred to the Department of Stealth and Total Obscurity in the town and place I grew up in, but it would be ridiculous if I posted a thread using that term without any explanation and expected the whole world to get that reference...

Ok, so how are you going to treat a heart attack, stroke, or worse still, a cardiac arrest? 🤔🤔