Last night the Lords approved the regulations that will effectively privatise the NHS, and this diagram from the latest New Economics Foundation / Tax Justice Network mythbuster shows why:
With the NHS privatised companies can cream off the NHS budget for themselves and we'll move towards US cost levels, inevitably, as the cost of admin and litigation will spiral out of control with no gain in healthcare resulting.
That's why the Lords voted for privatisation: they were out to help their friends.
And we'll all pay the price.
Weep quietly. That's all you can do now.
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It’s time that we had public showing of Michael Moore’s film “Sicko” in Hyde Park!
The graph is truly graphic! We’re being crushed by ideology. Some seem to think the US healthcare ‘system’ is a humanitarian disaster – looks like we are, by stealth, heading there. Beyond sadness.
What I don’t understand is why it has been such a shock to most people! Only the rich upper classes will get good treatment, Consultants, surgeons etc will be ‘unavailable’ to all but those who can afford top rate Insurance.
Let’s remind ourselves who among the many will benefit
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dff5c3a0-7a63-11e1-839f-00144feab49a.html#axzz2RV03hrBa
Yes none other than Cherie Blair. If my memory serves me right wasn’t she the wife of a certain Labour Primeminister? You know the interfering one. Yes that Labour primeminister, who seems to have more and more in common with Harry Enfield’s character “Only Me” the closer we get to a General Election!
Will the real Labour Party please stand up now, for the Welfare State
When someone tries to do that they’re told they’re reprehensible
Only if there’s a buck to be made will Labour be interested Joke of a Party !
Correction, sorry
Let’s remind ourselves who among the chosen few might benefit.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dff5c3a0-7a63-11e1-839f-00144feab49a.html#axzz2RV03hrBa
Yes none other than Cherie Blair. If my memory serves me right wasn’t she the wife of a certain former Labour Prime Minister? You know the interfering one. Yes that former Labour Prime Minister, who seems to have more and more in common with Harry Enfield’s character “Only Me” the closer we get to a General Election!
Will the real Labour Party please stand up now for the Welfare State!!
Hopefully the legacy of the Blair tribe will be buried in the catholic hell hole of their own making The lraq war and the misappropriation of these self serving people will be their deserved valediction.
If we ever get a real Labour Government or similar in power the first thing they must do is to make it an offence for an MP or a Lord to vote for anything in which they have financial interests, and this must last after they have left office. They must by law listen to protests, petitons and public voices.
If this had been the case now we would still have the NHS.
@Sandra.
Agreed. Indeed, it is very clear that the rules binding Councillors are FAR more rigorous: a) Having ANY direct interest means the Councillor in question is barred from participating in the debate, and of course s/he cannot vote on the issue, although s/he can stay in the Chamber b) Having a financial interest in the topic under discussion, and the Councillor must leave the Chamber, and may not even stay in the Public Gallery.
The rules obtain even in my local Parish COuncil, which has, as a first Agenda item, “Declaration of Interests”, upon which the Chair of the Committee will rule concerning the Councillor in question. MP’s/Lords meanwhile can blithely vote for things that will lead to their enrichment. Effectively Parliament as a whole is STILL a “Rotten Borough”, in which votes can be bought and sold.
Contemptible, and in clear need of reform, along the lines you suggest.
What Tories fear are our Unions. Why do we think our manufacturing industries have been run down as they have? Could it be because of our Unions? how is it difficult to realise that it’s not possible to make more money out of money! Bonkers, Mean and Small-minded idiots, so self-centered they don’t think at all!
There is an e-petition on the government’s website, for precisely that purpose – banning MPs from voting on any matter in which they have a financial interest.
It’s at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/44971 and needs a lot of support, so please sign and ask others to do the same!
Obviously I agree completely that the NHS privatisation would not have happened if MPs were prevented from speaking in support of their sponsors’ views.
A commenter on my website suggested they should wear the corporate logos of their sponsors/lobbyists on their jackets, so we all know where we stand.
I doubt if all the Lords who voted in favour of the bill were as cynical as is
implied. The myths that “private = efficient” and “NHS = wasteful” have been
promoted very widely recently; if you believe them (and they are arrant nonsense),
it makes sense to save taxpayers’ money and improve health care, by privatising the NHS as much as possible.
Unfortunately, as the graph shows, the highest coses are borne by the system with the highest level of privatisation. And there is no general public health benefit, because far too many people in the USA do not receive essential health care.
Respectfully – that is utter nonsense
Vast amounts of extra admin, a lack of data sharing, and uncoordintaed services will mean massive increase in cost and inefficiency
Sadly, this trend is coming down-under as well:
Privatised Health Means Public Illness (http://newmatilda.com/2013/04/29/privatised-health-means-public-illness)