Deception is sometimes a slow process, not achieved by a sudden, outright lie, but by gradual increments that subtly lead the deceived to a point from which they can not return. In this way, the British public are being prepared for the complete privatisation of the NHS by whichever political party runs the country on behalf of their corporate paymasters. Politics is nothing but a game of language manipulation, and all politicians have a PhD in its art.
It is naive to claim that the British public would not tolerate the full privatisation of the NHS, for it is easy for a thief to take away something held in great value if he can convince enough people that he has replaced it with its equivalent. (“Give me your gold ring, and I’ll give you one of yellow metal”).
The rejection of State funding of healthcare by political elites, such as politicians and their corporate masters, is the stuff of fact. The dice have landed, and it is just a case of gradually unwinding the plan.
The Privatisation of the NHS – Stages of Deception:
- Publically owned hospitals. Some sevices franchised to private corporations operating under the NHS logo. The present situation.
- Hospitals owned by private corporations. Medical staff to work for private corporations on zero-hour contracts. The situation in ten years.
- Access to healthcare to be paid for by private insurance policies. The situation in 15 years.
The American year-on-year experience of private insurance policies (my research, 2007-2013), is that 25% of people do not visit a doctor because they can not afford to. The same percentage miss tests, treatment, or follow-ups recommended by a doctor. The number of Americans spending more than £400 a year on prescriptions is the highest in the world. 40% percent of Americans with chronic conditions report not paying for prescriptions or doctor’s appointments due to cost, preferring to pay for food and rent.
This final stage of the Americanisation of the NHS will also be a gradual process, with the State and corporate media apparatus extolling the virtues of ‘individual responsibility’ and ‘choice’. The State will initially fund the medical insurance of the working and non-working poor. The principle of individual responsibility will be repeatedly invoked, however, and this support will be gradually withdrawn, for the ‘undeserving’ poor are such because they do not work, or work hard enough – failures in the Great Market of Life, who “should not be stealing from your pocket”. Those prone to grandiose delusions will readily accept such propaganda – they will always have a well-payed job, and will never have a serious medical condition which insurance will not cover. Politics is nothing but a game of language manipulation which targets the ‘unthinking class’.
The New (free market-shackled) Labour Party will offer tweeks of the system to the equally gullible – doctors and nurses must be guaranteed a minimum number of hours, etc. – but it is an affront to the history of Labour Movement to call this a socialist alternative. It is nothing other than a craftily disguised neocon alternative – different package, slight variations of the same substance. This rumour is sadly believable – that those in the Labour Party HQ await the next Conservative Party policy announcement and ask: “by how little can we tweek it to make it look as if it is our policy?”. “Will the voters of the Home Counties like it?”.
The dice landed many years ago, and the plan of a fully privatised UK health care system is being advanced so gradually as to deceive, for too many, as history informs, are easily lured by a ring of yellow metal.