Should the NHS be Privatised?
There are many arguments that could relate to the NHS being privatised, as we've seen on many news sites, the prime minister was shown to be looking to privatise the NHS. So today I will be addressing the common pros and cons of privatising the NHS.
Advantages
In the UK we can clearly see that there is a big issue of funding and money in the NHS, they clearly aren't making enough money to cover costs, leading the government to taxing the citizens of UK more and more just to cover the costs of the dying NHS. If the government was to privatise the NHS then they could look into lowering the tax on citizens and focusing efforts and money on other issues such as tackling climate change and education. "trusts are forecasting to end the year £558million in deficit" (Kings Fund). "When the NHS was created in 1948, life expectancy was 13 years shorter than it is today. Longevity has been a great triumph of public health policy but it has come at a cost: the longer people live, the more likely they are to develop a chronic disease such as diabetes. The average 65-year-old now has one chronic condition; the average 75-year-old has two. Two thirds of hospital beds are taken up by over-65s, and an average 65-year-old costs the NHS 2.5 times more than the average 30-year-old; an 85-year-old costs more than five times as much". As shown from The Spectator why should the government keep paying for a system that is failing to sustain itself. The system was built around people having a short life expectancy and not needing to be cared for after the age of 65. But, that system doesn't work for todays measure, so again we ask the question as to why do we keep funding it? Privatising the NHS would be a better way to obtain better treatment for the people as privatising the NHS could open doors to more money which could lead to better treatment. If and when people find out about the low quality of NHS then they would feel inclined to go into private health care, which could lead to the NHS into more trouble as more doctors could leave their job in the NHS and go work for a private company. This shortage could then lead to more and more doctors being overworked and then causing more to leave or take many sick days due to burnouts, stress and many other things that can with being overworked. They could ultimately go on strike asking for more pay with higher demand which could loose the NHS more money than when they started. Privatising the NHS could also allow the public be shareholders of the organisation, this could then lead to the public being able to have their say on how they want the NHS to run!
Disadvantages
There is no point in the government to turnover the power of the NHS. As shown from OECD we can see that the US actually spends more money per capita in comparison to Canada and Germany which both have "free health", proving to us that the private health care isn't always as profitable as it seems. The national health service has worked for many years and is widely accepted across the country. Changing the control of the NHS won't change the overwhelming effect on doctors. If we privatise the NHS the new goal of the NHS will just be to maximise the profits of organisation instead of the people at best interest. The main issue that arises when privatising the NHS is that instead of health being a basic human right, it's now dependant on how much money you have and whether you can afford health. "Mary Chapman, diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, started taking a then-new drug called Avonex in 1998, which belongs to a class of drugs called disease-modifying therapies. Approved in 1996, Avonex was expensive, about $9,000 a year. Today, two decades later, it's no longer the latest thing -- but its annual price tag is over $62,000." from this CNN post we can see that pricing for drugs is only going to increase as time goes on. Making the NHS private is going to mean that the organisation is going to exploit this price by inflating it, and as it does so many smaller companies will follow, meaning that people aren't going to be able to afford the price of medicines. This could also put smaller practices at risk meaning that the market doesn't go through the faze of a decline in medicine prices. Furthermore, why should one pay more for a more intricate treatment due to their misfortune. For the mere fact that there is an NHS it allows for a more equal and fair society whereas having a privatised health service would cause one extreme of society to be favoured over another. The NHS as it is present allows the people more influence through democratic accountability of the government.
So there you have it, the short information I found on the privatisation of the NHS. Personally I think the NHS should be privatised as this can give rise to better treatment and better working conditions for doctors. While enabling everyone to benefit, as this would lower the amount of tax citizens of UK will have to pay and stop people paying for tax on things they dont use. Which could also lead to the UK having a much better GDP which could help us in Brexit, but we never know. Feel free to send me your opinons and how you feel on this situation!
(Please be aware that I'm taking these from talking to people and online, but if you do have anything that you disagree with or think is wrong send me an email)