Starmer claims he wouldn't use private healthcare

[SadOhShea]

In the leader's debate Starmer claimed he wouldn't use private healthcare to help a loved one in a dire situation if they were on an NHS waiting list "and he felt like it was the only option".

Surely this is a lie, right? He's just saying what he thinks voters want to hear?

Wouldn't anyone who could afford it go private for a loved one in this situation? Also isn't it morally better to use private healthcare if you are very wealthy like he is and so you're not clogging up the NHS and taking the place of someone who genuinely doesn't have the option?

I just thought it seemed an insult to the intelligence of the voters to think he wouldn't use private healthcare for a loved one.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/general-election-2024/5090019-last-nights-question-on-private-healthcare

He probably knows he and his relatives will jump to the front of NHS queue anyway.

Sorry didn't see the other thread!

How does that work then?

I don't think it was an honest nor a good answer. He should have said "yes I would because the Tories have left the NHS in such a state that sadly it's not currently getting people the treatment they need when they need it. And I do realise how fortunate I am that paying to go private is an option and that others are suffering and dying whilst on waiting lists. That's an appalling state of affairs and I intend to do something about it"

He is saying if he was Prime Minister and the man in charge of the NHS, it would be morally wrong for him to go private and jump the queues that he manages. I thought it was a very decent and honest answer.

On the other hand, what a cold, unfeeling man he is making a family member wait for consultation/surgery when he has the funds to pay and shorten the wait.

He is putting himself in the position of the huge majority of people who can't afford to pay for it.

🐂 💩 if I could afford it of course I’d pay, he’s lying about it, or else he’s never been in a situation with someone they love being sick.

My son has had tonsillitis 14 times in 2 yrs and only now had a referral to ent, he was also in hospital for a week with complications and has EBV

he has missed nearly 25% of his school time

by the time he’s seen he will probably be 18 and bumped into an adult waiting list

it is having a serious affect on his future life chances as he will go into final year of sixth form after summer

he missed half of his GCSE exams and got aggregate scores (school said they would help if needed with uni applications)

im seriously considering a loan to go private and get them out ASAP

Will i be judged??? And by who?

@Twilight7777or else he’s never been in a situation with someone they love being sick.

Keir Starmer's mother suffered all her adult life with Still's Disease so he has definitely been in this situation.

He said, 'Towards the last years of her life ...she couldn’t walk, she couldn’t move her limbs, she couldn’t speak. She’s never spoken to our children and in the end ended up having her leg amputated.
As a boy and a teenager I spent a lot of time in high dependency units with my mum – watching people in the NHS saving her life was an incredible thing."

His mum was an NHS nurse.

Perhaps this explains why he has so much faith in the NHS and is so supportive of it.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-opens-up-about-death-of-his-mother-a4462601.html

Exactly. So many are missing the point.

Surely it's the only answer anyone can sensibly make? Because private healthcare doesn't cater for dire situations.

I imagine they made the decision some time ago that they would never use private healthcare. It wouldn't look good, and that is, after all, the position most of the country would be in. They also use state schools (though of course with the ability to buy a house in a favourable catchment area).

We can all say we would use private if we had to (in fact I get it as part of my job benefits) because we're not Labour leader or in the running to be PM.

I can't see how this is something to criticise him for. He's made a moral decision in line with Labour policy, influenced by how he wants to be perceived. Fair enough. It also means he has a vested interest in improving the NHS, unlike Sunak.

It’s so funny because here in Australia, if you earn above a certain amount and DONT have private cover you get a 1% levy on your tax bill. Any politician not using private cover would be thought of as hugely selfish and taking time and resources from those who can’t afford it.

He's damned whatever answer he gives. The media in this country is in the main right wing, he can't win with them.

At least he has principles, unlike the tory party leader and toadies.

They wouldn’t 🙄

It would be a bit of a stupid thing to lie about as he’d get caught pretty quickly if he did.

Really? I'd go private tomorrow if I could afford it. It will be a year before I can get my surgery on the NHS and I'm in agony every single day.
I'd sell my house to pay for private treatment for my son if he was ever in this much pain.

I'm not sure the answer to this (for or against) makes a jot of difference hence the difference of views on which answer is the right one.

It's was a daft question to ask them both (imo).

I wondered at this and the only thing I could think was he hasn't had to use the NHS for years. Or maybe his wife could pull strings and get him seen properly?
Everyone I know who has had a serious condition has had to use private in part over the last 5ish years, to say he wouldn't came across as a bit self-righteous and unbelievable to me.

I'm not sure it's any more morally wrong than being bankrolled by private healthcare investors, being in charge of the NHS and then using private provision in a nonsense plan to cut waiting lists.

To be honest this is my opinion on him with his grammar school. He could easily afford private but chooses to take a space from a kid in central London in an exclusive selective grammar school.

It’s so funny because here in Australia

But KS is leader of the Opposition in the UK and probably our next PM. Australia is irrelevant to his views.

Plenty of true socialists wouldn't dream of using private health care or education. They just wouldn't.

I think less of him if he's sending his kid to a GS.