Labour Ahead In Economy Poll -By 2% You Gov

PaulF81

Brainwashed I am afraid. You watched too much of the Olympics opening ceremony.

Is it worth the cost? I don't believe it is.

prowla

PaulF81 wrote: »

Brainwashed I am afraid. You watched too much of the Olympics opening ceremony.

Is it worth the cost? I don't believe it is.

I didn't watch the Olympics.

I like the idea that every citizen of this country who needs medical help can have it.

Of course, the NHS is badly run, is inefficient, wastes money, and so-on.

But the underlying fact that it is there is something that I consider to be a huge benefit.

(I'm not sure where the brainwashed jibe comes in - could you explain?)

StevieJ

BobQ wrote: »

Clearly you will never be elected to Parliament with that kind of attitude:T

There is always the council:eek: they take all sorts.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cornwall-councillor-collin-brewer-resigns-over-saying-disabled-children-should-be-put-down-8514200.html

PaulF81

prowla wrote: »

I didn't watch the Olympics.

I like the idea that every citizen of this country who needs medical help can have it.

Of course, the NHS is badly run, is inefficient, wastes money, and so-on.

But the underlying fact that it is there is something that I consider to be a huge benefit.

(I'm not sure where the brainwashed jibe comes in - could you explain?)

It's destroying the country. Look, I fully agree that medical care for emergency purposes or the likes of transplant and cancer care for those who, through pure bad luck, need essential treatment to continue with some quality of life at an age at which it could be considered a good investment for the NHS budget.

But it's not that anymore. Our longetivity is a direct result of billions of pounds in cash being pumped into a system that is prolonging the lives of those in retirement and therefore no longer productive. The worst thing is, people now EXPECT this as a god given right, not fully understanding the costs it is generating and major cuts in local, national and international government investment that are required to meet those levels of expectation. The NHS was never designed to provide heart treatments to 80 year olds, yet that is what happens. The NHS budget is going to need to prioritise over 34 billion over the next 20 years or require further increases, these are real rises due to demographics, these increases are not inflation adjusted, at a time we are billing students 9k a year to go to university and the national infrastructure budget is having marginal real terms increases and other core budgets are cut to the quick. In short, it's destroying the competitiveness of our nation due to the perceived so called god given right to smoke, drink and eat as much as you want and still expect to live on average to 80. It's brainwashing and its fundamentally wrong.

Labour opened this pandora s box through wanton unsustainable increases in NHS budget, in the face of demographics that were always going to bankrupt the nation without seriously difficult decisions and rollbacks on provision policy at a later stage; whereas previously common sense and prioritisation of budget would have been applied.

IronWolf

I think the UK needs a much larger private healthcare sector which can easily compete with the NHS. Only then will the poorly managed NHS services be exposed and can be elliminated.

I have private health insurance and it costs me around £30 a month. Thats for full coverage, everything non-chronic is covered. You wouldn't believe how much faster the private health service is compared to the NHS. To get an appointment with a gastroenterologist on the NHS I had to wait 6 weeks! and then another 4 weeks to have the first diagnostic test.

After that I went private, saw a gastroenterologist on the SAME DAY that I called to make an appointment, and he got me in for a test within the week. The only reason it took a week was because they had to first get a letter from my GP, which is of course NHS.

Luckily I didn't have anything life threatening, I shudder to think what months of delay would do to my chances of survival if I had something serious.

PaulF81

Incidentally, it's one of the reasons I get narked off with the use of increased life expectancy is the reason behind cutbacks to state pension. It's not going to happen. And I bet they will go as far as fiddling the longevity stats to keep their little untruth perpetrated as a reason for increased state pensions age.

What's the point in living to 85 when you can't use the roads due to potholes, petrol is 7 quid a litre due to lack of research investment and a devalued pound, we have a thick workforce that can't compete with highly educated Chinese students due to university education and research being unaffordable? Oh that's right, it's all ok, because whe have an NHS.

prowla

It's not all because we have an NHS.
The UK is one of the richest countries in the world, and we can afford it better than most, including education (which is pretty decent too).
However, the UK's population is 62 m, whereas China's is 1.35 bn and India's is 1.2 bn; elementary mathematics would suggest that the top 10 percent achievers of each of those countries would vastly outnumber the UK's.
If we shut down the NHS tomorrow then that fact would still remain.

PaulF81

prowla wrote: »

It's not all because we have an NHS.
The UK is one of the richest countries in the world, and we can afford it better than most, including education (which is pretty decent too).
However, the UK's population is 62 m, whereas China's is 1.35 bn and India's is 1.2 bn; elementary mathematics would suggest that the top 10 percent achievers of each of those countries would vastly outnumber the UK's.
If we shut down the NHS tomorrow then that fact would still remain.

What is their per capita or percent of gdp expenditur on healthcare? We are throwing cash down the drain whilst they become more competitive.

grizzly1911

PaulF81 wrote: »

I
The NHS was never designed to provide heart treatments to 80 year olds, yet that is what happens. .

In short, it's destroying the competitiveness of our nation due to the perceived so called god given right to smoke, drink and eat as much as you want and still expect to live on average to 80. It's brainwashing and its fundamentally wrong.

If you eat drink and smoke, to excess, I doubt you will reach anywhere near 80.

I very much doubt heart treatments are provided wihout a good prognosis at that sort of age.

I take it you have heard of the Liverpool Care Pathway.

All this you've reached 65 and are now unproductive, so remove health care, is fine until you yourself reach 65.

grizzly1911

IronWolf wrote: »

I have private health insurance and it costs me around £30 a month. Thats for full coverage, everything non-chronic is covered.

Well that's a useful policy then. It's like say you have car insurance that doesn't cover 3rd party claims.

Are single and young with good health by any chance?