"Summer of Rage"

lynzpower

bendix wrote: »

Why would I want the NHS to support me? They are there (part-financed by me) to provide for people who can't afford their own care, and rightly so. I don't need NHS care and wouldnt use its resources which are better deployed on those who need it.

Why is it short-sighted to assume my private health insurance will take care of me? If my health insurance isnt enough, I will use other personal resources to pay for myself.

Because - and here's a radical concept in 2009 Britain - that's what taking care of yourself as an adult is all about. Making plans for the future, making provisions for all eventualities, putting aside my desire for 10 holidays a year and another car or a a bigger home to ensure that my obligations not just to me, my future, my loved ones and their family is taken care of, but also my obligations to wider society.

It's a shame it's not a concept shared by Ian Bone and his professional malcontents (most of whom, I note from personal experience) come from much more advantaged backgrounds than me.

I too have private health care for the reasons you say. Additionally my mother is one of the senior managers at the biggest health insurers in the country. SHe and my father of course have the highest private cover they can have. We have had the discussion that the money in thier insurances, plus thier savings, will not be enough to care for them in thier twilight years, and what will be the plan between me and my sister to provide care for them. Baring in mind my parents are both managers and have substantial salaries and savings. They are- I would say - a lot better off than many.

As you age, you get "previous" illnesses that of course your private health care wont cover.

my grandfather had a heart operation privately and it cost him 32k.

There are only so many operations one can have until the pot runs dry.You may be a millionaire, so I dont know, but most normal people with normal incomes cant afford this sort of outlay for the 30 odd years post retirement. Especially when thier income is based on what the stockmarket is doing. ( ie thier private pensions)

lynzpower

is it all those people with 'bad backs' who never work and live off others? just go to your tesco or asda and see the parking lots. see how many rows of disabled parking lots there are. in some like the tesco i go to almost 25% of the parking lots are disabled parking! i dont grudge reserved parking for the truely disabled but 25-30% is a joke. most of the people parking there with blue badges will be bouncing into tescos with their fully loaded trolleys. some of them look fit enough to be body builders! wonder if they got the blue badges because of 'bad back syndrome'. its those people we need to target and not the really needy people.

Maybe they have a mental illness or terminal cancer?

My FIL has terminal cancer and at the moment still running his own business. However, its only a matter of time before he is unable to manage to do all he is doing, and I for one will not begrudge him a car parking space ever so slighlty closer to the asda doorway

donaldtramp

I do think tax credits has gone some way to changing this,

Ah tax credits, what a wonderful system. This has created a whole new layer of beauracracy and thousands of civil service jobs.
You can get tax credits up to 60K salary a year. Why do we need this ridiculous system? We pay tax through our wages that is then sorted through by thousands of civil servants and then given back to us! In the meantime costing us a fortune in wages for the people who handle it.

More public sector wastage, on a grand scale.

lynzpower

donaldtramp wrote: »

Ah tax credits, what a wonderful system. This has created a whole new layer of beauracracy and thousands of civil service jobs.
You can get tax credits up to 60K salary a year. Why do we need this ridiculous system? We pay tax through our wages that is then sorted through by thousands of civil servants and then given back to us! In the meantime costing us a fortune in wages for the people who handle it.

More public sector wastage, on a grand scale.

It was one or the other- something had to be done to deal with the benfits trap that was so prevalent a few years ago.

I would have preferred eith er flat rate tax system or to pay less tax on lower incomes to reduce the dependency on the state for those who DO work.

However labour doesnt work like that and wants everyone to be dependent on the state as then of course there is a aquiescence that they can buy. I dont like it either, but something really did have to give.

Im hopeing that the tories can introduce a system whereby the tax system is fairer and clearer and more people can keep more of thier money and god forbid- save for themselves.

bubblesmoney

lynzpower wrote: »

Maybe they have a mental illness or terminal cancer?

My FIL has terminal cancer and at the moment still running his own business. However, its only a matter of time before he is unable to manage to do all he is doing, and I for one will not begrudge him a car parking space ever so slighlty closer to the asda doorway

i am sure there will be people like that who deserve help. i am talking of the larger picture, where i dont think any place will have 25-30% of the people needing disabled parking spaces, that is just over the top, if that happens people must have been eating food grown in chernobyl contaminated areas for that level of disabled parking spaces to be needed. no nation can cope with care needs like that! the system will collapse if loads like that are placed on the system.

donaldtramp

i think the worst of the lot is the snobby people in thousand pound suits needing billion pound bailouts that are the worst of the scroungers and they need to 'get the go to jail card ASAP'. they are the most dangerous of the lot. sort them out first then tackle the small fry like the others! otherwise this lot wont think twice before bankrupting all of us while eating their caviar and sipping their champagne in corfu while saying they are too big to fail and will need bail outs. they (the ones who defrauded the system by cooking the books) need anchors tied to their feet and be dropped into the shark infested seas. atleast they will be of some use then. their useless regulator and politician buddies who bailed them out should go down with them. then think of tackling the smaller fry.

I think you'll find if you do your sums that the "small fry" collectively cost the UK an absolute fortune. They do not pay their way, pay anything towards their pension or future care when required at the end of their lifes.
At least the taxpaying worker has made a contribution and is trully entitled to all the care the system can provide.

lynzpower

bubblesmoney wrote: »

i am sure there will be people like that who deserve help. i am talking of the larger picture, where i dont think any place will have 25-30% of the people needing disabled parking spaces, that is just over the top, if that happens people must have been eating food grown in chernobyl contaminated areas for that level of disabled parking spaces to be needed. no nation can cope with care needs like that! the system will collapse if loads like that are placed on the system.

Yes, I think that is interesting.

Does your area have higher claimant rates than other places?

I fear that this is a cynical plot for the likes of asda to attract claimants to shop there?

donaldtramp

Didn't mean all my writing to be in bold last post! Sorry for shouting!:rolleyes:

StevieJ

bubblesmoney wrote: »

i am sure there will be people like that who deserve help. i am talking of the larger picture, where i dont think any place will have 25-30% of the people needing disabled parking spaces, that is just over the top, if that happens people must have been eating food grown in chernobyl contaminated areas for that level of disabled parking spaces to be needed. no nation can cope with care needs like that! the system will collapse if loads like that are placed on the system.

Do you not remember the scare over the Welsh lamb

donaldtramp

As an example, 1 in 4 people of working age in Liverpool and Glasgow are on Incapacity Benefit.
How is this possible???