by The patients should pay 20 pounds for a GP appointment as part of an insured NHS, a report supported by a former Minister of Health.
Sir Sajid Javid said that Great Britain was “long overdue” a “serious conversation” about how the NHS was financed in the introduction to Policy Exchange’s report, The London Think Tank.
The paper supports a social security model in the Dutch style that would offer universal care for everyone who needs it, but without the weaknesses of the US private health system.
It claims that the changeover to a largely insurance -financed NHS would halve the tax burden that is required for the payment of health care in Great Britain from 9 percent of GDP to 4 percent and saves about £ 128 billion per year.
This could reduce the average tax amount of the public by around 2,400 GBP per year, according to the newspaper.
Some of them would then be used to pay a health insurance premium for those who could afford it with a broader taxation of the rest.
The authors of the report also argue that additional fees such as 20 GBP for a GP date, the scrapping of free recipes for over 60s and the introduction of fines for missed appointments, further obtaining donations, as well as reducing the wasteful use of the NHS and the tax burden would further restrict.
They also support fees for “more luxurious hospital accommodations” that say that they could collect £ 700 million.
Sir Sajid said that the NHS spent his “original annual budget every month” and his financing was “the size of GDP from Portugal”, which made 18 percent of daily government spending.
He wrote: “We came to a crossroads. A serious conversation with the taxpayers about how we continue to finance their preferred national institution is long overdue.
“We have two options. The first is to make an active decision to continue to bring more and more money into the healthcare system, financed by annual tax increases and by the expansion of essential investments in everything, from education to defense towards NHS.
“The second is the reform of how we do health care. We cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand.”
The report states that “under no circumstances consider the United Kingdom to move into the US model”, which is the only developed country with poorer health results than Great Britain.
It notes that other countries “are much better with an insurance model”, such as France, Germany and Singapore.
It shows the Dutch model as one that Great Britain could strive for. The Health Insurance Act of the Netherlands in 2006 has merged a national health system with private insurance markets in order to create a universal social health insurance program.
It continues to offer universal cover, but has integrated a competitive, market -based insurance system.
The waiting times for most treatments and procedures in the Netherlands were shorter, while the country recovered from the Covid pandemic than in the UK before it met.
In 2023, the Dutchman offered faster access for various operations as well as hip and knee replacement than the NHS in 2019. Since then, waiting times have risen in the UK.
The report states: “We believe that a better quality of health care with universal coverage and improved sustainability of long -term financing through the transition from our current socialized model to a hybrid model with a significant component for social insurance could be secured.”
“An economic train”
The Policy Exchange supports a system in which universal health insurance is available and a basic model can be supplemented by other guidelines.
In the report, the report states how the reform of the NHS in Great Britain would work and states that the government would regulate insurers and health service providers.
The Think Tank says that the system should still be referred to as NHS – whereby the main change is “about the way the system is financed”.
Roger Bootle, the head of the Policy Exchange guidelines for prosperity and the leading author of the report, said that the “economic train of the NHS should be seen for everyone”.
He said: “The waiting lists are longer, productivity is lower and the burden for taxpayers has become unbearable.
“Even worse, British health results continue to stagnate, although they flow into the system more into the system and are generally worse than other developed nations.
“We need a serious debate not only about the structure, but also through the financing of the NHS. Social security offers the only realistic way: a fairer, more sustainable system that provides better results for less money.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs said: “We are still absolutely obliged to ensure that the NHS is a publicly financed service at the time of use.
“We are now taking brave measures to reform the healthcare service to get it back on their feet and to make them fit for the future in our 10 -year health plan.
“We will use the possibilities that offer new technologies, medication and innovations to better provide all patients – regardless of where they live or how much they earn – and a better value for taxpayers.”
