Private Health Care

[Scudamore]

So in short nobody knows what the monthly damage is?

[saint_stevo]

apparently not

[StuRomseySaint]

norwich union solutions policy.

 

If you are in your 20's then about 50 quid a month for a good policy.

 

Don't take 6 week options or excess, they are a rip off unless you are old.

 

Head office is in chandlers ford so if you have any disiluted claims you can sort it out faceto face.

 

Choose moratorium underwriting, there could be cover for the knee if it flares up in a couple of years.

 

So 50 quid and norwich noon is the answer.

[Gemmel]

I'll give you a nailed-on example of the injustice of private healthcare. Many years ago, when I had two children under 6, I needed an orthopaedic operation. I waited months and months for this, in a great deal of pain mainly because in those days the waiting lists were horrendous.

 

Eventually the great day dawned and I had my op. When I came round from the GA, I got chatting to the woman in the next bed to me. She'd had exactly the same procedure as me. When I said how long I'd had to wait for the op and how difficult it had been to cope with two small children when in pain she told me she'd seen the consultant privately THE WEEK BEFORE and had the op the next week!!!!!

 

JFP and his ilk will say 'and why not, she could afford it'. But healthcare shouldn't be about affordability for the individual, it should be about need. I don't know that my NEED was greater than hers or vice versa but my need was not so worthless that it could be shunted onto an 18 month waiting list whilst her need could be addressed with cash within days.

 

What was even more galling was that her consultation was private but her consultant 'bumped' her up the NHS queue, and she didn't have to pay for the operation. She readily admitted this without an iota of conscience.

 

Having just the thread , i really can't see what your so opposed to, but each to their own.

On a more general point, the NHS quite simply isn't sustainable in it's current form and hasn't been really for years, each goverment throws an extra few billion at it, but it doesn't have any real impact and at times doesn't even paper of the cracks. I disagree with your opinion that the waiting lists now are smaller than previous years, because for the more serious operations that just isnt the case. Surgeons are having thier time prioritised for smaller quicker, less urgent operations to meet goverment targets on overall avergae waiting times. Much like the ambulance service. Call out an ambulance and you will have a guy on a motor bike there within 20 mins, can't do fook all except radio back that an Ambulance IS needed and then wait for over an hour for it to turn up..... Guess which time is reported against for targets?

 

Why anybody wouldnt want the burden reduced on the NHS by the private sector is bizarre. If they use NHS equipment, rooms etc, the y have to pay, so the NHS is better off or would have had to do the treatment themselves and recieve no money.

 

If the NHS is going to be able to deliver the service it was created to provide then they will need the Private health service to continue growing. Companies should recieve significant tax breaks for providing their employees and their families with cover.

[Scummer]

Companies should recieve significant tax breaks for providing their employees and their families with cover.

 

Would be nice if the government stopped classing it as a taxable benefit as well. I already pay NI, why should I have to pay again for potentially reducing the burden on the NHS.

[Gemmel]

Would be nice if the government stopped classing it as a taxable benefit as well. I already pay NI, why should I have to pay again for potentially reducing the burden on the NHS.

 

I completely agree, you shouldn't

[nick1579]

Wow Steve, bet you didn't think your problem would lead to such debate! I think Johnny Bognor's post makes the most sense above. Incidentally, I was screened for MRSA etc before having my (private - sorry Bridge) so that point is true enough.

 

Oh, and NI doesn't fund the NHS, it funds certain Social Securty benefits.

[Gingeletiss]

In Australia...it's all private as such, and the money is deducted at source, from your wages.

[Saint George]

I was listening to a program on the radio today where a few consultants were discussing future Health Care models the US may adopt.....

 

During the show they referred to some recent research that had been carried out, comparing Health Care systems around the World........The UK's was described as "Basic" at best and "The worst in the industrialized World"...The consultants were even trying to reassure worried listeners who were calling in with very uncomplimentary comments about the NHS, that there was 'NO' way that any model like the UK's could ever be considered for implementation in the US.......Even the show's host was relieved to hear that

 

Kinda highlights the problems with Socialism....Everything and everyone is brought 'down' to the lowest denominator.....Although in practice many socialist's are hypocrites....Everyone's equal until they find its to their advantage to pay for private medical treatment etc....then the principles they hold so dear temporarily go out the window

[JohnnyFartPants]

I watched the American broadcast of Question Time during the yank election and it pretty much mirrored the same points of view. Rather than recognise our 'service' his words were "I dont want to wait in line for health care" and I see his point. Yes, at entry level to health care our system is ok, but if you want something and can pay for it then who wouldnt. Socialism is a totally unworkable scenario that is as acceptable to as many people now as communism was years ago.