NHS funding needs to be changed
I READ with much interest of the recent discussion going on amongst the NHS leaders in Scotland. I have felt for many years that the funding of the NHS needs to be changed, probably to an insurance-based system as operates in France and other developed countries.
The current “free at the point of delivery” scheme runs into significant problems when it has to service an ageing population such as ours. As a stop-gap measure to take pressure off the NHS, surely it would be a good idea to allow people choosing to pay for their hospital treatment to be allowed to offset the cost against their income tax bill?
Going private is particularly attractive when, like me, you live in rural Herefordshire, where the local hospital only offers a basic level of care when it comes to options for treatment of such non life-endangering conditions as an enlarged prostate. I am one of many in the 60+ age group who paid their national insurance contributions for 40+ years, choose to use to spend some of their pension on private treatment, and also still pay income tax on all their pensions.
Malcolm Green By email