£10 charge to visit A&E?

[JOHNNYAITCH]

The best people to Judge the NHS are the people who rely year, on year, on their services. Labour are just beyond belief, they created the culture which undermined quality standards of care and now crow on about saving the NHS. The cuts to public services have gone way over the line where the tories are concerned, but lets not forget the NHS is in the state it is not because of a 'so called ageing population', but because huge swaths of immigrants use the services without any restrictions, and the fact that many targets are met in sacrifice to people getting the care they need.

 

People on this forum entertaining private healthcare really do need to take a raincheck and realise that if we go down that route we could be signing the death warrant of thousands of poorer people. The NHS has been there for generations, and I believe that they have done a fairly good job, otherwise you, me everyone on this forum would possibly not be here. I realise there are exceptions where quality care is not met and I know personally of such matters and we really do need to take a good look at whether it is feasible to keep letting Nurses and frontline staff with language barriers such a pivotal role in the NHS. We need English speaking Doctors and Nurses, we need top clinicians responsible for budgetary decisions and not management who have no clue about the clinical fundamentals.

 

Nothing to do with what I posted

[For Us All]

The best people to Judge the NHS are the people who rely year, on year, on their services. Labour are just beyond belief, they created the culture which undermined quality standards of care and now crow on about saving the NHS. The cuts to public services have gone way over the line where the tories are concerned, but lets not forget the NHS is in the state it is not because of a 'so called ageing population', but because huge swaths of immigrants use the services without any restrictions, and the fact that many targets are met in sacrifice to people getting the care they need.

 

People on this forum entertaining private healthcare really do need to take a raincheck and realise that if we go down that route we could be signing the death warrant of thousands of poorer people. The NHS has been there for generations, and I believe that they have done a fairly good job, otherwise you, me everyone on this forum would possibly not be here. I realise there are exceptions where quality care is not met and I know personally of such matters and we really do need to take a good look at whether it is feasible to keep letting Nurses and frontline staff with language barriers such a pivotal role in the NHS. We need English speaking Doctors and Nurses, we need top clinicians responsible for budgetary decisions and not management who have no clue about the clinical fundamentals.

 

This hospital privatisation was a big failure.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nhs-hospitals-unsustainable-privatisation-deal-collapses-amid-concerns-over-poor-care-9967479.html

[JOHNNYAITCH]

but lets not forget the NHS is in the state it is not because of a 'so called ageing population', but because huge swaths of immigrants use the services without any restrictions

 

Factually incorrect I'm not in favour if giving everyone from wherver in the world unlimited access to the NHS but if the argument is to be won it has to be based on facts.

 

Yes 100s of 1000s of immigrants sign up for NHS services every year but that's not an analysis of their use. And I'm not claiming that they don't put an additional strain on the NHS that needs to be addressed. However it is the ageing population that is and will continue to stretch the NHS the most

 

NHS ENGLAND's OWN FIGURES "Studies suggest that older patients account for the majority of health expenditure. One analysis found that health and care expenditure on people over 75 was 13-times greater than on the rest of the adult population."

 

People on this forum entertaining private healthcare really do need to take a raincheck and realise that if we go down that route we could be signing the death warrant of thousands of poorer people. The NHS has been there for generations, and I believe that they have done a fairly good job, otherwise you, me everyone on this forum would possibly not be here.

 

Agreed..but the only way to win the argument for the NHS is thru sounds proven facts, not scaremongering. Private health care has its place

 

I realise there are exceptions where quality care is not met and I know personally of such matters and we really do need to take a good look at whether it is feasible to keep letting Nurses and frontline staff with language barriers such a pivotal role in the NHS.

 

Far more of the failings are systemic than someone not being great with English; no doubt there are failings cos of language but the fundamental issues will not be addressed thru that

 

We need English speaking Doctors and Nurses, we need top clinicians responsible for budgetary decisions and not management who have no clue about the clinical fundamentals.

 

We need procedures and systems that are fit for purpose

[JOHNNYAITCH]

This hospital privatisation was a big failure.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nhs-hospitals-unsustainable-privatisation-deal-collapses-amid-concerns-over-poor-care-9967479.html

 

The hospital’s contract was originally put up to tender by the last Labour government in 2009. They decided on privatisation..not sure any other hospital has been privatised

 

Typically Labour now distancing itself from the whole thing.

[Paul6754]

I live in the same country, but in a different state and almost certainly with a different health plan.

 

Have your costs gone sky-high in the last few years? If so, thank Obama for that. The only trouble we have experienced, thankfully, if that our family doctor (GP) is cutting back on time spent and some of the services he offers seem to be struggling to cope. He has told me that they are eearning less each year for what they do.

 

As regards, scans MRIs, etc., our insurance plan covers all that (in network). We pay $20 to visit the GP and $40 for a specialist. Our treatement is 80/20 but last year my wife paid the maximum of $2,000 in co-pay and so everything after that, including prescriptions, were fully paid for by insurance.

 

You will have heard in the news about all the folks who have lost their healthcare plans (Obama lied about that, it's on the record0 and have had to seek alternatives at higher cost or lower coverage sine the Unaffordable Healthcare Act was passed ("we have to pass it before we know what's in it" to quote Nancy Pelosi). There is room for substantial healthcare reform, but not government schemes, please! They can't even manage Medicare.

 

The NHS is a treasure, sure. But just like our castles, it's old and from a bygone age, it's cold, it's in need of expensive repairs all the time and it's not a comfortable place to hang out.

 

Apols if my reply sounded a bit ratty. The 80/20 plan is exactly what I mean, our first Ins Plans for about the first 8 years we were here were called HMO's (Health Managed Organisation), a $10 co-pay was required for a PCP visit, $20 to see a specialist and $100 for a visit to the the ER, everything else was paid for in full. Very few private Corporations offer these plans any more 'cause presumably they're too expensive. The 80/20 plans are more costly 'cause a co-pay is required and the 20% has to be paid by the consumer in addition to the premiums. Newer plans are now offered which place even more of the cost on the consumer in the form of deductibles.

 

The bottom line is that the healthcare is excellent but more and more of the cost is being placed on the consumer as the marketing men come up with more "creative" ways to extract money, who knows where this is going to end. A retired good friend of mine told me last week he was facing a $4000 co-pay for Vancamycin, a drug that is almost certainly free on the NHS.

 

I beg to differ on The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), someone has to stand up reform and reign in the burgeoning healthcare costs before only a few people can afford it. Approx 20 million Americans have gained health Insurance under the scheme many, many times the number of people who've lost it and it baffles me why they've lost it.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act

[The French Connection]

It's noticeable in France that the State contribution to healthcare is being reduced, either directly or indirectly, and that the burden is falling more and more on the individual. Inevitable, I suppose, given the state of the French economy and the need to reduce government spending. Probably the same the world over.

[Tone]

I beg to differ on The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), someone has to stand up reform and reign in the burgeoning healthcare costs before only a few people can afford it. Approx 20 million Americans have gained health Insurance under the scheme many, many times the number of people who've lost it and it baffles me why they've lost it.

 

Not sure where your 20 million comes from? It's presently around 7 million with a target of 9 million. But depending on whose figures you believe, between 2.6m and 4.7m lost their healthcare plans and were forced to use Obamacare. These were primarily people who had individual plans, self employed people, etc. Those of us who benefit from employer plans are not in such bad shape.

 

Retirees and Medicare is another story.

[Paul6754]

Not sure where your 20 million comes from? It's presently around 7 million with a target of 9 million.

 

Hew England Journal of Medicine, one of the post prestigios Medical Journals. See "Record to date" at the bottom of the article.

David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., and Sara R. Collins, Ph.D., N Engl J Med 2014; 371:275-281July 17, 2014DOI: 10.1056/NEJMhpr1405667

 

But depending on whose figures you believe, between 2.6m and 4.7m lost their healthcare plans and were forced to use Obamacare. These were primarily people who had individual plans, self employed people, etc. Those of us who benefit from employer plans are not in such bad shape.

 

Retirees and Medicare is another story.

 

So those people didn't lose their Health Ins, they just got it under the ACA?

[Andyregs]

The NHS cannot go on with ever increasing demands on its staff and continual cutting of services. There has to be sacrifices and unfortunately both Tories and Labour will not commit to significantly cutting immigration levels, . It will not commit to paying the frontline staff a decent rise, and will not commit to streamlining the service to levels where the top clinicians make the budgetary decisions. These problems will not go away unless we come out of Europe, and make the skilled migration pay into private healthcare schemes. With the revenue, an estimated 2 billion, this will put an end to unfair car parking charges at hospitals, and ensure quality training for English speaking doctors and Nurses. There will be a better chance of retaining English nurses who at the moment, are leaving for Australia in their droves, due to being overworked, undervalued and underpaid, this is the reality all over the country. Here is UKIP's pledge to the NHS (for you to look at as well Andy Regs)

 

The National Health Service

 

– UKIP will ensure the NHS is free at the point of delivery and time of need for all UK residents.

 

– We will stop further use of PFI in the NHS and encourage local authorities to buy out their PFI contracts early where this is affordable.

 

– We will ensure that GPs’ surgeries are open at least one evening per week, where there is demand for it.

 

– UKIP opposes plans to charge patients for visiting their GP.

 

–We will ensure that visitors to the UK, and migrants until they have paid NI for five years, have NHS-approved private health insurance as a condition of entry to the UK, saving the NHS £2bn pa. UKIP will commit to spending £200m of the £2bn saving to end hospital car parking charges in England.

 

– We will replace Monitor and the Care Quality Commission with elected county health boards to be more responsive scrutineers of local health services. These will be able to inspect health services and take evidence from whistle-blowers.

 

– UKIP opposes the sale of NHS data to third parties.

 

– We will ensure foreign health service professionals coming to work in the NHS are properly qualified and can speak English to a standard acceptable to the profession.

 

– UKIP will amend working time rules to give trainee doctors, surgeons and medics the proper environment to train and practise.

 

– There will be a duty on all health service staff to report low standards of care

 

Which is different to what they said in 2012, and different from what they said in 2010. Populist policies from a party saying whatever they need to to gain votes because they know they won't have to be held accountable for them after the election, where as labour and Tories will be. It gets lapped up by some like yourself, though having never voted before, you perhaps haven't considered the idea of parties following through on their promises. Something which the lib dems are now being punished for. Just because you can cut and paste it off the internet doesn't mean it's not b0ll0cks!

[Tone]

Hew England Journal of Medicine, one of the post prestigios Medical Journals. See "Record to date" at the bottom of the article.

David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., and Sara R. Collins, Ph.D., N Engl J Med 2014; 371:275-281July 17, 2014DOI: 10.1056/NEJMhpr1405667

 

 

 

So those people didn't lose their Health Ins, they just got it under the ACA?

 

Last year 8 million people enrolled in a marketplace plan, not everyone kept their plan, and not everyone who kept their plan reenrolled. The current grand total of federal marketplace enrollments was about 6.5 million by the end of 2014. The current goal for open enrollment 2015 is 9.1 million paid on HealthCare.Gov. [per hhs.gov]

 

You can't deny people lost their healthcare plans, which the President repeatedly said would not happen. No doubt they had to re-enroll through Obamacare, but you'd have to ask each of them if they got the same terms. And how much did they pay? Was it $2,500 cheaper like the President also promised?

[Paul6754]

Last year 8 million people enrolled in a marketplace plan, not everyone kept their plan, and not everyone who kept their plan reenrolled. The current grand total of federal marketplace enrollments was about 6.5 million by the end of 2014. The current goal for open enrollment 2015 is 9.1 million paid on HealthCare.Gov. [per hhs.gov]

 

You can't deny people lost their healthcare plans, which the President repeatedly said would not happen. No doubt they had to re-enroll through Obamacare, but you'd have to ask each of them if they got the same terms. And how much did they pay? Was it $2,500 cheaper like the President also promised?

 

I will accept what's written in as prestigious a medical journal as there is on the planet until I see otherwise rather than the ramplings of the Californian babe or the right of rightest politicians, Jon Bahner. Getting more Americans covered by Health Ins should be a goal of everyone in the USA 'cause it benefits all of us.

[Tone]

lI will accept what's written in as prestigious a medical journal as there is on the planet until I see otherwise rather than the ramplings of the Californian babe or the right of rightest politicians, Jon Bahner. Getting more Americans covered by Health Ins should be a goal of everyone in the USA 'cause it benefits all of us.

 

So you dismiss the figures on the government's own website? I'm only interested in facts from reliable sources, so I am curious why your source is so way off base.

[Paul6754]

So you dismiss the figures on the government's own website? I'm only interested in facts from reliable sources, so I am curious why your source is so way off base.

 

You'll have to be more specific viz your source/reference, the refs you provided are mainly about enrollment in 2015 and the plans available in 2014. If your figures are correct l can't understand the discrepancies in the numbers.

[carl]

Which is different to what they said in 2012, and different from what they said in 2010. Populist policies from a party saying whatever they need to to gain votes because they know they won't have to be held accountable for them after the election, where as labour and Tories will be. It gets lapped up by some like yourself, though having never voted before, you perhaps haven't considered the idea of parties following through on their promises. Something which the lib dems are now being punished for. Just because you can cut and paste it off the internet doesn't mean it's not b0ll0cks!

 

UKIP will be held accountable in the event of a coalition, which is more and more a possibility with every bad decision and statement that Labour and the tories make.

 

And on the point of me not voting before, it feels great to have the chance to vote for something at last that I believe in, wholeheartedly.

 

Many parties have teething troubles, they have had to adjust their policies through years of learning themselves by talking to the public on what is popular and what isn't. UKIP are a new entity in relation to the established parties, and when you think they have not been around that long, what a phenomenal last few years UKIP have had, last years Euro elections were phenomenal and speaks volumes really for people's overall views on the way forward for the UK. Mark my words the forthcoming General Election will provide some real shocks around the country.

[JOHNNYAITCH]

Many parties have teething troubles, they have had to adjust their policies through years of learning themselves by talking to the public on what is popular and what isn't. .

 

Exactly what was claimed..they go for what is popular and will they believe get votes..they stand for nothing except trying to get elected..you just admitted it