The dangers of privatised healthcare

This blog is written by Jane, a Just Treatment supporter based in Essex.

As someone who lived in the US for 7 years, I have seen first hand the horrors of a health system that revolves around private profit.

We were fortunate enough that my husband at the time had a job with good healthcare through ‘United Healthcare’. His company contributed towards some of the premiums, then my husband had his pay deducted to pay for the rest. 

Yet on top of this, to see a doctor on the approved list the co-pay (a fixed out-of-pocket amount paid by those with insurance) was $28 each visit. The dentist was $28 per visit. A visit to the Emergency Room was $50 which you had to pay before you were seen. God forbid if you needed an emergency ambulance, as you would be billed a huge amount afterwards. 

I had friends who owned their own houses but worked for companies that did not provide healthcare insurance. They were referred to as "the working poor". I also knew people who despite owning their own homes amassed huge medical bills, and the only option was to file for bankruptcy. In 2003 I had surgery to have my gallbladder removed, and despite the good amount of cover, the co-pay was $1,700. 

The only winners in this system are the health insurance companies. As an NHS patient, I am terrified about our public health service being taken down the same dangerous path. 

Myself and my family have received lots of excellent care from the NHS over the years, including my parathyroid gland removal back in 2010. But I know that since then, government underfunding and creeping privatisation have put our NHS in a very fragile position, and as a result many patients aren’t getting the care they need. 

Meanwhile, private health providers are making a killing.

I have osteoporosis, and my right knee is very bad. When I sought treatment I got referred to Springfield Hospital which is private. One of the major problems with the increased reliance on private providers is that if anything goes wrong in these hospitals, you get spat back out into the NHS system - and this exact thing happened to me. Private providers don’t want to deal with patients that are too complicated or expensive to treat. 

I want to see the NHS remain belonging to the people, paid for by the people, not privatised. It is a lie that there isn’t enough money to fund it properly. For years the Conservatives have given huge tax cuts to non-doms who have billions of pounds yet are contributing next to nothing to our public services. It doesn’t have to be this way.

We need to cherish our public health service, and stand shoulder to shoulder with one another to protect the future of our beloved and grossly underfunded NHS.