It is a common belief among old people that they have paid National Insurance all their lives and, therefore, aren't getting anything more than their just deserts from the NHS.
Because I have lived abroad and remember how hesitant I was to seek any kind of medical help (insurance never covers the whole cost, and, anyway, you have to provide the money up front and then claim it back) I am very conscious of how lucky we are to be unhesitatingly ready to look for medical care for the least sniffle.
My mother, once, years ago, lost some valuable pills and had to pay to have them replaced. She was shocked and amazed at how much they had cost, and was more careful afterwards. I've never heard of this happening on any other occasion and, short of sending everyone off to the USA for a while to begin to understand what life is like without a Health Service, I don't know what could be done, but there must be a way in which we could be made aware of, say, the cost of an average course of antibiotics, or of calling out an ambulance or of a hip replacement, or of a night in hospital. The result might be more of a counting of blessings than the constant complaining that is the conventional behaviour. I am sure that the public could, if better informed, do a great deal to save the Health Service from its constant state of penury.
This blog is a plea for common sense in public policy. Our leaders don't seem to have any. They just make daft rules for us to follow. We need to assert our right to use our own good sense instead of ticking boxes which can only say 'yes' or 'no'.
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