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Actual ways to fix the deficit; part 1, NHS Privitisation
The UK Deficit and national debt is on the road to hell. With record emigration and immigration the Country is losing its tax base whilst also accruing more and more long term benefit costs as the population ages.
The sad facts are that as much as Labour and Conservatives go at each other, arguing about where £3 billion goes here and there does not really make any difference. The problem with the numbers we have is in the trillions of pounds of problems. Even the annual deficit is well over £100 billion a year – more than the take in VAT for example – and that is just the overspend.
So, if we lived in a real world where people were actually allowed to say the truth rather than deny reality (we know we are not in a real world because the Euro exists and all the politicians in Europe say it will live forever), then we might come up with some radical ideas.
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| How my NHS would look |
In the 1980′s there were some very good privatisations, in the 1990′s some less good ones. But if you want one off hits to really help reduce Government debt then privatisation is the way to go. People come off the state payroll and get real jobs instead that pay real taxes, efficiencies can be delivered and saves have new businesses to invest their savings capital into. We end up with a smaller state, taking in more tax. It’s a win-win.
However, in the UK lots of the good asset sales have been made, Aviation, Utilities, Telecoms, Rail. There are a few left like Roads, but the tax take is already disproportionate so its a hard sell.
There is only one standout institution left – this is the NHS. Some hospitals in the US make profits of up to 25% (somewhat egregious it sounds, but having been to some the service is great). The NHS budget is about £110 billion. A huge amount, more than is collected by national insurance. If hospitals were privatised, the interest from the private sector would be huge. The various regional or specialised businesses would raise probably over £100 billion – maybe nearer £150 billion. This is would be a big dent in the deficit, even if we did not allow for any further rationalisation in the business.
Better yet would be to encourage a part-privatised system of insurance for those that can afford it as in France, to replace national insurance and create another new private industry that would generate more jobs and wealth.
With better offers of healthcare, it may even be we see spending overall on healthcare continue to increase, but as the increase would be in private spend rather than state spend, the effect on the Treasury would be good rather than bad.
Of course, I can imagine people reading this are now worrying about my own mental health. there is no chance of this happening in the UK with Labour and the Tories out-doing one another in their commitment to state-sponsored penury via unsustainable health spending. It’s Friday, I like humour on a Friday but this is tinged with regret that no radical solutions are currently being put forward to try to turn the Country around. It is very 1970′s managed decline when we need a 1980′s drive for renewal.
2012-10-06 00:02:44
Source: http://www.cityunslicker.com/2012/10/actual-ways-to-fix-deficit-part-1-nhs.html
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