Health Care Policy Idea - Auto enrolment into private health schemes

The NHS is always in the news needing more funding or suffering from shortages in some way or another.   My own thought is that we should as a country follow the example of the success story that is Pension Auto enrolment.   So employers should have to setup health schemes and from staging dates enrol employees into them.

The scheme could in time transfer the majority of working age citizens away from reliance on the NHS and into the private sector.

What are the benefits of such an approach.

Less time off work - the NHS typically has long waiting times for treatment whereas the private sector can see you whenever you want.

Freeing up resource - children, those over the state retirement age and those with cronic illnesses such as cancer plus Accident and Emergency services should be what the NHS focuses on, not providing or attempting to provide just about every form of cosmetic and other treatment option under the sun.

Currently the NHS is the biggest employer in Europe and is a huge inefficient bureaucracy this is just not right,  too much resource is challenged in the NHS and not used efficiently.

Health Care auto enrolment could be phased in with the highest paid initally required to join, then progressively all employees, with contributions split between employee and employers.  Those who already have private health cover e.g because their spouse has family cover could be exempted.

In time this would reduce the burden on the state and allow the NHS to focus on the right sort of areas.

The savings achieved should be used to reduce the levels of income tax in the UK so the impact on tax home pay could be offset by lower tax rates /  and or higher personal allowances.

Tony Lowe supports me on this policy

Adrian Lawrence is a right wing thinker, free market champion and advocate of lower taxes, he regularly contributes to this and to many other leading publications.

YOUR REACTION?