Fears are growing that Brexit could spell the end of the NHS being free at the point of need. The Prime Minister’s refusal to rule out health services being part of post-Brexit trade negotiations and her Government’s desperation for a quick US-UK trade deal have raised the prospect of new privatisation in the health sector. And there is a growing danger of the NHS’s financial crisis being excerbated by new Brexit-related costs and a general weakening of public finances when the UK leaves the EU.
According to Mark Dearn, a leading campaigner for the anti-poverty group War on Want, the uncertainty about the NHS has been highlighted by the deregulating force of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations between the US and the EU. “Under TTIP, we know the UK chose to include the NHS and the Government then refused to release legal advice it received on threats to the NHS from the deal,” Dearn said.
Frontline View
Concerns about the possible privatisation of the NHS after Brexit were spelled out by an Accident & Emergency doctor working in the NHS who told Felix Magazine that leaving the EU would change the rules for the health sector in a way that most voters had not considered.
“There has already been an influx of American investment, looking to capitalise on ‘supporting’ the NHS as it opens up to the market,” said the doctor, who asked to be named only as Jeremy.
“Many of these companies, such as the Hospital Corporation of America and Tenet Healthcare have already entered the British market by acquiring UK private health companies with links to the NHS. These companies see the opening up of the NHS as a lucrative business opportunity, and already fund lobbying groups who put pressure on the UK Government to open up the NHS to the free market.”
Jeremy’s concerns about the privatisation of the NHS have led him to run a crowd-funding campaign to produce a video (above) urging people to wake up to the lies of the Leave campaign and join the #StopBrexit movement.
“Political instability is bad for economic investment, at a time when our plan is already to cut corporate tax rates to invite business to the UK. If our public services are underfunded already, imagine what they’ll be like with lower taxes and more economic uncertainty. This cycle of wealth inequality and cuts to public services also feeds the conditions which create things like child poverty, homelessness and high working class mortality rates.”
Looking to the US
“Multiple NHS managers and our Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, have also taken many trips over to the US to visit private healthcare companies like Kaiser Permanente,” he said, referring to the US insurer and health provider which publicised Hunt’s 2014 visit (left) on its own website.
“This is ignored by the mainstream media but is perfectly true. The Government has already copied Kaiser’s model by fragmenting the NHS provision into Clinical Commissioning Groups, which are responsible for planning and commissioning in local areas. This model makes it far easier to privatise the services and is a clear move as part of a larger plan to sell off nationalised healthcare.”
“The seeds have already been sown as more and more NHS services are taken on by private companies, and increasing numbers of NHS assets are sold under this Government. Around 8% of the NHS is already privatised, and it’s a linear increase year on year. It currently equates to £10bn of the NHS budget,” he said.
The independent fact-checking charity Fullfact verified that claim. “About 7.6% of NHS revenue spending in 2015-16 went on purchasing care just from private providers, according to Department of Health accounts. If you include all non-NHS providers then this goes up to 10.7%,” it said.
Jeremy needs £11,000 to produce his Brexit video and the project will only go ahead if the money is raised by 4.44pm on October 24. Pledge towards the fundraiser here.
by Stewart Vickers
The post Brexit: NHS to Be Pushed towards Private Sector? appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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