NHS should be a co-pay system.

[PeonyPatch]

Who agrees? Other countries who use this model include France, Germany and the Netherlands and they are some of the highest ranked healthcare systems in the world. The NHS is no longer fit for purpose, and it hasn’t been for a long time. I am proud that we have a free at point of access system here but it’s no longer sustainable and has been mismanaged and inadequately funded for a very long time. The only way I think it could improve is by gradually making it co-pay - perhaps capping it like Germany does.

What does that mean and how is it likely to affect the poorly paid?

Disagree. The reason it’s on its knees is not because it’s not co-pay.

I’m not really familiar with the European systems. So if a person has cancer, for example, would they be capped once they’d had so much worth of treatment? What happens after that? Do they pay or die?

Prescriptions arnt free would that not be considered co-pay? Dentistry is also not free

Our friends just came back from Berlin. One of them had to go to A&E and ended up in a corridor for 47 hours….

I don’t even think co pay could save the NHS . Sadly, I think it’s too late.

Could you explain why making it co-pay would improve things, and what co-pay would mean for people accessing the NHS?

@PeonyPatch you mean that those who work will then pay taxes from their salary for the nhs, and because they have the joy of working… they then pay again at point of use when others don’t have to?

I didn’t say it was - just feel it would take the pressure off. I think it's important to have good quality health care for those who can't afford it. But many of us could contribute in manageable ways and it might take the pressure of the creaking system that's unsustainable currently

I currently do this at the moment with my private healthcare. It’s part funded by my employer and then I pay the rest. I do pay my taxes, but the waiting list and care Id get with NHS is just so poor. Especially for women’s healthcare/gyneacology/fertility.

This is what happened with dentistry which resulted in most NHS dentists going private, leaving ordinary people without any access to dental care.

Lol, I’m obv not. But if you may as well not bother replying if your only response is going to be to insult me. Not really an argument is it? I was just proposing an idea. I’m also not claiming to be an expert in the matter either. Just thought it’d be a good talking point.

People on benefits would get it free
The high earners would be ok
would hurt people like me, min wage but earn just enough to get no help and would struggle

The countries you list spend considerably more per capita on health than the UK does. So it may well improve healthcare quality, but it will not save any money. I'm Dutch and so I'm not wedded to the NHS, but people do need to be realistic about this.

I had a hysterectomy privately. I don’t have a private healthcare plan so I had to pay the full cost (£13,000 including scans and tests beforehand). I almost died and was transferred to our local NHS hospital who saved my life and where I remained for the next month.

I will never use private healthcare again.

Yes it should be and will be in time obviously.
Initially I suppose for GP appts and all dentistry. Children maybe free perhaps. In Ireland then are free till age eight.
After that age imo heavy users could buy a prepay card, like they can for prescriptions.
We would learn to prioritise healthcare expenses as we prioritise food and shelter. Maybe £40 a consultation and £200 for a prepay per year. So you'd buy a prepay if you need to go more than 5x per year.
It should not be free for people on benefits, but maybe qualifying benefits would be entitled to buy a half price pre payment card.
People pay more than that to insure a cat.

We do already... through nic

How are you going to ensure that people who don’t have any spare income have access to healthcare?

Why would co-pay be better or preferable to raising tax to increase funding for the NHS? How would co-pay improve the existing mismanagement?

We’ve had e patience of the French, Spanish and a Scandi country’s health service and, without exception, the service and care has been top notch. To see a GP/urgent care it’s around £45, mostly same day appts. Pay for scans etc that take place same or the next day (around £300) and then treatment is subsidised. Not sure what happens if you need big operations or treatment for cancer.

A uk friend lives in Cyprus and had tests, scans on her hip in one week then waited about 6 weeks for the hip replacement. It’s about two years here, all the while mobility is reducing and pain increasing with poorer outcomes.

I am sorry for your experience. Unfortunately there will always be cases of poor care and medical negligence both privately or NHS.

People are often shocked that Sweden is a co-pay system - however it's capped

£120 per year for healthcare (£10 per month) after this free

There are separate max amounts for drugs and dentistry

The NHS has been and continues to be mismanaged. Too much dead wood, which happens in all government organisations. Billions of funds get wasted every year on ‘initiatives’ and archaic computer systems and various schemes, which never come to fruition and get abandoned halfway through because they are too cumbersome to implement. Closing down the ‘cottage’ hospitals was just one of many extraordinarily short sighted schemes as there is now no where for medical stable, but still needing rehab/ stepping stone to home, patients to go, so guess what they are now still in an acute hospital bed, this was one area of the many crass decision making exercises people getting paid £££££ chose. The issues in the NHS are far more complex than just lobbing money at the problem.

A sliding scale? I’m not sure. Like I said, I’m not Nigel Farage (lol) nor am I claiming to be a healthcare expert here… I’d need to look into other countries systems in more detail to make a suggestion. Again, I just created this thread as a talking point really.