LETTER: Will NHS be bargained away?

The NHS is in the news again. The old argument flares over whether we are spending enough on it. And now there’s a new question: will a Brexiteer prime minister bargain it away as part of a trade deal with the USA?

In 2000, we were spending just over six per cent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on the NHS, but the EU (minus the UK) was spending 8.5 per cent and getting a better result.

The Labour government decided to do a catch-up, and a few years later we were spending 8.8 per cent on the NHS, but the EU by then was spending ten per cent.

The discrepancy – of both spend and performance – has continued. The Conservative government says it has increased NHS spend, and so it has; but not by nearly enough.

The gap between provision and need has grown.

The answer for some right-wing MPs is to get rid of the problem by privatisation. And Mr Farage has said that he would prefer a private insurance system. Both these solutions would be likely to increase cost to the point where the old bogey of fearing the cost of illness would be likely to re-appear for many people. Hands up those who want to go down this path.

Now, during his state visit, Mr Trump has said that in any negotiation of a trade deal with the USA, the NHS would have to be on the table for bargaining: i.e. American firms would have to be given a slice of the pie.

In the US, under their private system, the spend on healthcare is very high, but the standard of care delivered is uneven, penalising the poor and even some of the not-so-poor. It costs more than in EU countries, but delivers less effective overall results.

My view is that we should aim to come nearer the EU spend and standards on healthcare: if they can do it well, why can’t we?

I think it would be useful if John Hayes, as our MP and a member of the ERG Brexiteer group, would give us his clear and unambiguous view on the way he thinks we should go.

John Tippler
Spalding