General Election June 8th

[Cheesy]

Labour just pledged to end NHS car parking charges by doubling the tax on private healthcare companies. Great stuff!

Private healthcare companies forced to put their prices up forcing people to cancel their private health insurance and use the NHS instead therefore placing more of a burden on the service?

 

[Vic]

Asking higher earners to pay a higher percentage of their earnings in tax to fund the NHS will be counter productive. They already pay more tax by virtue of the fact they earn more money.

If you cut waste, the NHS won't be in crisis. How many time wasters turn up at A&E, ring an ambulance when they don't need one or fail to turn up at a GP's appointment? People want a service free at the point of use, but are not willing to take responsibility for their actions. I have a good friend who works at the NHS coal face for West Mid's Ambulance service as a Paramedic. He sees examples of waste over and over again on a daily basis. He also complains of excessive layers of management and bureaucracy which cost Millions and achieve nothing. And as for foreign nationals costing FA; not true. He gets called out regularly to pick up people from airports who turn up on international flights with serious medical conditions wanting to be treated.

Airports? In the West Midlands? Regularly? There's only two flights a day from outside Europe to Birmingham.

 

[brass neck]

Private healthcare companies forced to put their prices up forcing people to cancel their private health insurance and use the NHS instead therefore placing more of a burden on the service?

Which is the same argument we get for not shutting private schools ie they are doing us a favour by not dumping there pupils into authority schools. And it's nothing to do at all with people who go to posh school getting all the best jobs. I say shutting all private hospitals, fund the NHS like it should and move the facilities into public control. You income should have nothing to do with your health outcomes.... That's SO last century!

 

[JULES]

Tories at it again on net migration.
May with some well chosen words - net migration to be kept at sustainable levels and I believe that to be tens of thousands?
Excuse me is that a commitment,an aspiration or just a load of bollocks?
Tories have been saying the same thing for the last seven years. Net migration from just non EU countries was about 150k back in Sept 2016 ffs , so if they haven't managed to get that into the tens of thousands how on earth are they going to get both non EU and EU net migration below 100k?
And it appears that our economy is actually dependent on these migrants, both skilled and non skilled, and as the economy is virtually at "full" employment levels there's no locals to pick up the slack once the immigrants have gone, even if the locals were suitably qualified ( which they're not).
YCNMIU Jeff.

do you think the UK is dependent on migrants ? a scuba diver is dependent on his oxygen tanks, the UK is not dependent on migrants

 

[Trevor Morley's Tache]

Airports? In the West Midlands? Regularly? There's only two flights a day from outside Europe to Birmingham.

Yes, regularly. I've done it myself when on secondment to Surrey Ambulance Service in 2005. We got called to Gatwick on blue lights to a flight from Kenya to someone with a serious heart condition who would have known about his condition before he travelled. People often fly via European airports with UK as their final destination.

 

[Bert Trautmanns Helemet]

Private healthcare companies forced to put their prices up forcing people to cancel their private health insurance and use the NHS instead therefore placing more of a burden on the service?

Tax & spend. Tax & spend. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. It's all Labour know and all they have ever known in modern times.
Sad but true.

 

[Metal Biker]

Private healthcare companies forced to put their prices up forcing people to cancel their private health insurance and use the NHS instead therefore placing more of a burden on the service?

Swings and roundabouts...?

 

[kevin horlocks wand]

The foreign nationals cost to the NHS is about 0.fcuk all of it's budget, waste on IT systems likewise.By all means take action in these areas but is that your solution to solving the NHS crisis?
"Concentrate on individuals and companies pay the taxes they are due". Yeah, well every government says that and nothing changes and this lot have been in power now for seven years without doing much at all other than sounding tough.
So I'll ask you again, how you gonna pay for the NHS,social care,policing,schools public services etc etc without considering increases in taxation OR making people pay more for them ( now there's the rub).?

Yes but Len the NHS is not at crisis point because of rich people?The very rich pay 50 percent of the earnings already in tax and the "rich" pay 40 percent. They are ones mainly funding it.

These same rich people probably have private Medical care and use that instead.

It's a complex issue , and it is just over used and absolutely massive, with massive waste and inefficiencies.

It needs a complete non political solution . The constant the NHS is an institution and we keep throwing more money at is not the solution.

We need a fresh approach to treating the millions of people who use it.

I would like to see it stop being a political football with people point scoring and using it to "win votes".

 

[MillionMilesAway]

Yes but Len the NHS is not at crisis point because of rich people?The very rich pay 50 percent of the earnings already in tax and the "rich" pay 40 percent. They are ones mainly funding it.

is that true?
33% of income is from income tax (estimated), so most income is not from income tax, and thus income tax cannot be mostly funding anything really.
How much of that comes from the 40% bracket, and how much from the <40% bracket?

 

[kevin horlocks wand]

is that true?
33% of income is from income tax (estimated), so most income is not from income tax, and thus income tax cannot be mostly funding anything really.
How much of that comes from the 40% bracket, and how much from the <40% bracket?

Just quick googling 75 percent of tax receipts comes from the top 50 percent of earners in the uk.

That's not the point I am making really though, the point is the NHS in crisis is not down to kicking the wealthy, they should not be even using the NHS.

The solution to the NHS issues is not as simple as taxing the rich more and giving it to the NHS.

There are too many people using fewer resources and far too much waste. People's health should not be used as a political football.

It needs a proper honest assessment of when we use it who uses it and that may mean some people cannot use it (save for emergencies) like those who can pay, overseas, non residents. I am not saying that is only the answer but I would a cross Party commission to get together and have a grown up conversation about the future of health. The only thing that is certain that with population growth as it currently stands it's only going to creak even more and we need a proper long term plan and to take it out of the political cycles because that is not working.