BBC news saying Scotland discussed possibility of wealthy being expected to pay for nhs treatment

[Ruizy]

Feeling a bit horrified at the prospect of this proposal. Surely it would just mean those above a certain wage would have to take out bupa style insurance. But not sure what would happen to emergency care.

NHS needs reform but nobody is willing to do the hard yards to do it. The real solution is not a vote winner….hence it will never happen.

I saw that and was more surprised at the honest tone than the content. We can all see that the NHS is failing, our GP is seeing emergencies only half the time, and those who can afford it are already going private. I’d rather have an insurance based model than an unsafe one like currently tbh.

Yes I can’t imagine that making a two tier system would improve things for anyone. Those in the lower tier would probably just get a poorer service. Anyway, they seem to be denying that this any further discussions on this is going to go ahead , so hopefully that is true.

I agree something does need to change. It isn’t sustainable to be constantly told that only urgent cases are seen.

The NHS needs change but Scotland is becoming increasingly unattractive to higher earners.

Can you just imagine the reaction from Starmer, Raynor and Lammy if Rees-Mogg had mooted this ?. The entire globe would have stopped spinning 😵‍💫

We need to discuss options like this. At the moment the NHS is failing everyone, rich and poor alike.

I don’t know why the US insurance model is always discussed as a solution. What about the Scandinavian model? We pay for hospital and GP appointments (all adults over 16). I also think if the NHS is to survive, people have to stop going to their GP or a&e for minor things. I think part of the problem is people overuse the system.

Personally I am lucky we can afford BUPA for the whole family. I have given up on the NHS a long time ago.

That's interesting I wonder if Wales will raise this. I'm sure it's been whispered about in England too. Yes I can see it happening. The Spire Bupa are seeing a huge increase in membership

It sounds like another policy that could hit people who are just above the threshold quite hard. What happens if you're just over the cutoff and you get a pricey illness you can't afford treatment for? People already have trouble with the costs of being ill and off work.

I think it's a very dangerous idea without an awful lot of work.

If "the wealthy" pay for their own care, does that mean people wealthy enough to pay a hundred thousand pound cancer treatment bill without hardship? If so then there's hardly any of them, and they're probably going private anyway. If not, and we're talking "normal" six figure income wealth, then we're talking about insurance, in a form which isn't really available at the moment for people with pre-existing conditions.

I'm not against us/Scotland moving to a European style system of regulated private sector insurance for moderate earners and state insurance for those below, but I think that a hastily introduced system which dumps a bunch of people onto the mercy of the untrammelled free market, but it doesn't matter because they're "the wealthy", is a recipe for disaster, because it's a slippery slope too easily expanded and copied by the London government for a wider population.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-63659754

Link

My suspicion is that "the wealthy" already have private health insurance so not sure how it would help

I remember a couple of years ago a huge Australian health care company trying to buy BUPA I think. American companies are keen to get in on the act too

Well we already do in England, most of my friends pay for private healthcare which includes Drs appointments.

Don't see an issue with it.

Well considering that im sure snp see anyone earning over 45k as 'wealthy' this will see a mass exodus I'd think. We'd leave. Sick of scot gov constantly taking and you're meant to be happy as 'all in this together' shite. Bollocks are we, they'll do whatever it takes to look like 'heroes' and don't give a fuck about other people, and if you don't engage with glee, you're a monster who wants the workhouse back!

The denials are predictably very strong, but I wonder if this isn’t a deliberate ‘leak’ to get the discussion going and soften up the public. The NHS is such a sacred cow that reform discussion is virtually impossible. From the raw numbers the problem with the NHS seems to be less funding and more lack of staff, and serious reform is likely needed to make it a more attractive career. I would agree that a European style model would be acceptable and probably better than the fully tax payer funded model we currently have, but I share concerns that the SNP can’t run a bath and will probably fuck it up.

www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/05/spire-healthcare-accepts-1bn-takeover-offer-from-australian-rival

AHH interesting article

Ireland can't afford a full nhs the way we have here, they have a 3 tier system. So do Australia.

I think serious reform is necessary but no party is willing to take it on as it's not a vote winner. They all want to say the NHS is "safe" in their hands

2 tier not 3 tier!

Its been made clear this was internal to NHS Scotland and nothing to do with Holyrood.

So there's going to be people who
-work for the NHS
-pay for the NHS

• but can't use the NHS in this SNP utopia?....

Nothing would surprise me about Scotland. If you earn anything at all or work hard, you are kicked in the gutter. This will inevitably be aimed at the middle earners.

And thereby lies one of the problems @PearlclutchersInc
The NHS is "owned" by politicians who will not take the unpopular, vote losing decisions for reform of healthcare

Yes Scotland regard anyone on £45k as 'wealthy' and you can guarantee the £45k would never rise with inflation either.

High earners that I know (over £100k) already use private healthcare. If everyone earning over say £50k in Scotland took out private healthcare then a lot of NHS staff would leave because the private sector would have to go on a huge recruitment drive to cope with demand.

Not sure how that solves anything except letting the govt off the hook. Maybe that's why SNP suggesting it. Like the ferry fiasco, they just want to blame someone else for their mismanagement