by
Les May
Carl Faulkner
said...
- 'It could be argued that is was predictable that the NHS was established
by a Labour government due to it being elected in 1945 - when plans for
what was to be called the NHS were well advanced but lost in the mists
of time.
'Contemporary news reports from 1944 demonstrate that plans for the NHS were already well advanced. They had moved on considerably from the Beveridge Report in 1942 (see: Towards A Healthier Britain - (Minister Of Health's Speech 1944)
'Unfortunately, the whole issue has been claimed by Labour and its supporters as 'theirs', with seemingly total and utter reverence towards one man.
'Like the substitute who makes his first appearance late on and scores the winning goal in the FA Cup finaal, it is often the politician who is in the right place at the right time, who receives all the praise - even if they never claimed nor asked for it themselves.'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyjbUK88CB4
CARL Faulkner’s comment above about
my original article rather misses the point of what I was trying to
say. As my Libertarian friends endlessly remind me there were other
schemes in operation even before the NHS was a gleam in anyone’s
eye.
Bevan
would have been familiar with the Tredegar
Medical Aid Society
as
he was the local MP. In
return for contributions from its members
it provided health care free at the point of use. (my
emphasis)
This
model of funding was rejected by Bevan. The
scheme that was eventually introduced was, and is, funded from
taxation. That
is why I think we should be happy to say; ‘Thank
you Nye Bevan’.
And
I make no apology for saying so.
The
advantages of not making it a contributory scheme can best be seen by
contrasting it with National Insurance. In the 1970s many married
women were seduced into paying reduced NI contributions. When
they reached the pensionable age for women they only then realised
the disadvantage they had brought upon themselves.
At
some point we are going to have to rethink how the elderly, infirm
and disabled members of our society are cared for in
order to bring some parity between the Care Service and the NHS in
terms of provision of resources in the form of personnel and
resources. I would argue strongly for a service funded by taxation
on the basis that we all run the same risk of needing such care at
some time in our life just the same as we all run the same risk of
needing care by the NHS.
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