How do we decide what should be provided by the state?

 It is easy in principle to decide whether something should be left to private enterprise  or public service. Simply ask five questions:  (1) Is the service or product generally considered to be a necessity?  (2) Will profit compromise safety?  (3) Is the service obviously inappropriate to be left in private hands, for example policing or [...]

Be anti-social; live to a ripe old age

An unpleasant mentality is  distorting the notion that the NHS is a national health service. Increasingly, politicians, the media and medics are taking the line that treatment can be legitimately withheld from people wicked enough to disobey the official disapproval of smoking, drinking, getting fat and so forth. For example, Norfolk Primary Care Trust has [...]

The road to NHS privatisation

The good news  first.  The NHS was founded in 1948 on the principle that all treatment should be free at the point of use regardless of income. 63 years after its foundation the principle is largely intact. We have prescription charges and fees  for dentistry and the work of opticians, although  even these charges for [...]

So you think private healthcare would beat the NHS…

Anyone who has ever had private medical insurance will know how incomplete the cover is. Common exemption clauses are a two year waiting period for existing complaints to be covered, a complete exclusion of psychiatric treatment and severe restrictions on aftercare, which is frequently excluded when active medical treatment ends. Those who have had chronic and [...]