The NHS, in my opinion the greatest thing that this country has ever done for it's people. From a day when Governments may well have seemed to have cared. Free healthcare within the United Kingdom for the poor as well as the wealthy. As well as the British, the National Health Service has cared for many people who have come to our shores from different nations around the world, these people often have come to the nation looking for a better life, a better job and various other incentives that the United Kingdom can offer. Many are willing to take jobs that us British see below us. A very small percentage may move to the country purely to get help from the health system, but it would only be a small amount, just as a small percentage move here because it is unsafe for them to live in their country anymore, I've met people in that situation before and I've got to say, considering sending these people back to a land where they would surely die shouldn't even cross the minds of people within this country. It's inhumane.
So imagine what I thought when I read a consultant named Professor Thomas writing an article for the Daily Mail, a paper known for scaremongering the people within this country about the Governments plans regarding the NHS for people who are from countries outside the European Union. First of all I was not actually aware of the Governments proposed policy, but secondly this so called Professor's opinion, which I found totally absurd.
The NHS is one of the things this country has got right since the Second World War, that statement could be regarded as opinion, but I would regard it as a fact, even more so when you look over the Atlantic at the United States where healthcare is paid for. You hear stories of people from the USA regarding people who can't afford healthcare. For instance, twenty percent of people did not get the needed specialist care that they required because of the expense. Possibly more worryingly twenty-eight percent of these people who had a chronic medical condition (such as diabetes and heart disease) did not actually fill in their prescription or skipped some of their doses because they couldn't afford for these drugs (Source:UPI.com). Now I'm glad that right now Britain has not gone down a route that America has, my Grandparents are diabetic and luckily thanks to the way we run our healthcare at this current time, they can have regular check-ups and get their prescription, for free thanks to their age. The current prescription cost should they have been under 60 and working is £7.65. Personally I believe prescriptions should be free for all people and not just have groups of people exempt from the cost, however maybe I'm wishing to much from this Government in this economic climate. The fact that some people don't pick up their more expensive prescription in America is genuinely incredibly concerning. People with diabetes who don't get their prescription and take the right doses of insulin for instance can end up in a diabetic coma, which could possibly lead to death, all because healthcare companies have made the price out of these peoples reach. The possibilities of what can happen to people taking medication for heart disease are quite obvious and can also lead to death. Therefore charging beyond reach for anyone isn't humane, it seems like it's an indirect version of manslaughter.
Getting through that then, why should workers outside of the EU be paying for healthcare from this country. Well for a starter, let's say the person comes over from a country like Iraq or Afghanistan, both countries named because we have injured many of their civilians since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. How can we go humanely go to people from these countries and refuse them healthcare. We owe a duty to these people because we decided to go in and bomb their homes, the argument of the legality of either war is invalid in this, the fact that we have injured and killed many people from these countries is however valid. So imagine if we went to these people and charged them £200 of more for their healthcare in this country. It's wrong, especially if they had something severely wrong with them, whether it was picked up before they were in this country or not. Some of these people who settle from foriegn countries have spent so much getting here and trying to find somewhere to live that finding £200 (or more as Professor Thomas would suggest) would be difficult. People from poorer countries may also have big families, having done geography at A Level one of the modules we studied was to do with population, it seems that poorer countries have a higher birth rate (as well as death rate in the majority of these nations), which is why the population of the world is increasing. So for a hypothetical case here, let's argue a family comes over from Egypt, the family isn't well off but has a desire to get away from all the troubles going on with the confused leadership of the country as well as the violence that has seemed to trouble Egypt on and off for the last few years, this family has a father and mother along with four children. This family would have to fork out £1,200 for their healthcare after the struggles and stress of moving over to the UK, pressures such as claiming their visa's, finding a home and actually getting across to the country, all of these not being cheap.
Another issue for people like the family I have created for this point would be the fact that this Government doesn't want to give them benefits, not in the same way as they would give benefits for people who come from the United Kingdom (who have already suffered benefit cuts, regardless of how hard it is to get a job at the moment), so finding the £200 each would be even harder to do, after all these people need to buy food and pay for electricity, water and gas as well. So for some people who move to this country it's making life even harder for them. How is this fair? These people didn't choose to be born in the countries they were born in, some didn't have much choice in leaving and many of these people aren't particularly well off.
And what if these people can find jobs, earn money and pay taxes? Should these people who then would be contributing as much as the working British person have to pay for a service that the people born in the country, or a EU nation get for free? Surely the answer is no. These people are carrying out a job, maybe not for high wages, but still a job and with a job comes tax. The only way it could even be considered fair for these people to have to pay for health care on top of this is if they have a large chunk of their tax taken off, because if they're paying for their healthcare on top then why should they be made to pay taxes that people who get their healthcare without directly paying for it, have to pay to keep the service running? There is no reason for these people to have to pay taxes and a fee. It's simply not fair.
They may have chose to come to the UK because of a reputation of the country being fair, a reputation that lies deep within the foundation of policies such as the National Health Service and Legal Aid. Being a Criminology and Law student I am aware with the cuts surrounding the Legal System as well as these proposed changes to the Health Service. These are two of the areas where Britain made it's name for being a fair country, why should we change these things, things we're proud of?
There is an alternative I can think of, an alternative that wouldn't be popular within the millionaires who sit on their green bench, soon to get a pay rise. The alternative would see either a tax rise for people earning a high bracket of income, or maybe these people would like to pay £200 each extra towards their healthcare, unlike the people that they are actually trying to make pay this money. As for Professor Thomas, I'm sure he can take his scaremongering and use it to encourage Parliament to vote for the richest people in the country to pay more towards their health. If I was in the richest ten or twenty percent I would have no problem paying towards healthcare. You may ask why and I shall answer that. This country should be looking out for everyone within it, now that means the homeless, the people who have settled here from another country and the poor. These people are just as important to the name of Great Britain as those that are rich, whatever profession any of these people are in. If Great Britain stops looking out for these poorer people, whether they come from this land or another, the the Great in Great Britain should not be used anymore.
One thing is for sure, we can all thank the National Health Service for something, the people in many of these hospitals do a great job every day saving many lives. I thank them for this, without them my Uncle would not be around anymore. Therefore I would like to dedicate this blog post to the people that work in these hospitals, the doctors, nurses, receptionists, porters, the lot. I would also like to dedicate this article especially to those at Derriford Hospital, Plymouth who saved my Uncle's life. Thank you.
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