I mean ultimately going back to first principles you either provide less healthcare (what would you cut? Arguable we need to add mental health which is bloody expensive to treat properly) or you need to start charging where we don’t already so rather than tax where people can afford it you end up with a lottery as to whether people can afford it or not and those that can’t coming back as emergency care.
There’s no magic solution where we provide the same level of care for less money. We don’t actually spend that much on healthcare compared to other countries and it’s not a market in the proper sense so I fail to see how any other funding system solves the issue. Willing to be convinced though.
We tax things like smoking and alcohol quite heavily. For a similar reason I'd like to see many drugs legalised and heavily regulated and taxed.
The problem is that that money is not ringfenced for health services to treat the problems it causes. We could argue we should add tax onto things that cause pollution and poor air quality (like fossil fuel energy) but that would also lead to increased bills because the businesses won't absorb that cost, they'll just pass it on.
Some people talk about charging for some services, especially those that are self-inflicted, but where is the line drawn? If you break your leg playing football then that is arguably self inflicted as you choose to take the risk of playing. People would argue addictions are self-inflicted yet charging for that treatment would only make matters much worse.
If the argument being put forward is that increased population is adding stress on the system, then arguing to remove stuff like IVF which is a bit like turkeys not just voting for Christmas but paying for it, and instead use nudge theory and tax incentives to encourage childless couples to adopt, thus helping with the social care problems. But that in itself needs investment and probably quite a bit of mental health funding to support the couple.
On a similar mental health note, elective cosmetic surgery should be focused far more on mental health than surgery as the problem is in their heads and going under the knife is creating bigger risks with infection and scar tissue. But again, not cheap.
We need to increase scope on social care and mental health, both of which ultimately cause increased problems with primary care.
Trouble is we have a small section of society with a lot of power and influence who are obsessed with free market and competition. There will be quite a number of the Tory party who would advocate a US style insurance system which has been proven to only really benefit the insurers, providers and drug companies, not the actual people. One of them is our current Chancellor.
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