THE financial crisis faced by the NHS is largely due to the fact that the amount we pay in National Insurance contributions is nowhere near enough to cover the cost of our health care.
One way to ease the financial crisis would be for us to pay a small fee of, say £10, every time we see our GP and perhaps £25 each time we are referred to a consultant, on top of our National Insurance contributions.
Very few people could not afford to pay the fees and those few would, of course, be exempt.
People think nothing of spending ten times as much on a night out.
The National Health Service was never meant to be free, and the amount we contribute as individuals is totally inadequate. Contributions have not kept pace with inflation or take into account that most of us are now living far longer than we were when the NHS came into being.
Hospitals and doctors must also ensure that foreign visitors to Britain are charged for any medical care they receive here.
ROBERT READMAN
Norwich Avenue West, Bournemouth
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