The Future of the NHS
Doctors for Reform, backed by the Reform pressure group, released a new ICM poll earlier this week covering the future of the NHS and suggests a surprising amount of cross party support for alternatives to the NHS.
Asked if the NHS "is the finest health service in the world", 53% of people agree - this isn't just Labour supporters loyally going into bat for the government, 47% of Tory identifiers think that the NHS is the best in the world. There is however, a significant age differential - amongst pensioners over 60% think the NHS is the best in the world, amongst under 25s only 35% do. Asked to actually compare the service we recieve from the NHS with the level of service people think the public get in France or Germany though, only 36% think that the French and Germans are worse off.
Despite thinking the NHS is the best in the world, many of the same people also think the NHS is outdated and unable to meet the demands of the people. 67% of people think that the NHS in its present form is unlikely to ever meet public demands, no matter how much money is thrown at it. 65% of people think that, while the NHS was the right thing for Britain in the 1940s, we now need "a different healthcare system", 58% think the government are wrong to rule out alternatives to the taxpayer funded NHS system, 83% think "it shouldn't matter whether hospitals or surgeries are run by the government, not-for-profit organisations or the private sector, provided that everyone including the least well off has access to care". 68% of people think that none of the political parties are currently setting out any attractive new ideas for delivering a better health service.
Asked if "instead of paying taxes for the NHS, we should have a European-style system where everyone takes out health insurance and the government tops up the payments for people who can't afford the premiums" the public are evenly split, with 47% agreeing and 49% opposed.
With figures like this, you might ask why no political parties are championing any reform of the NHS. The NHS has become a sacred cow in British politics, no politician dare suggest any policy that might be projected by his or her opponents as amounting to privatisation of the NHS or abolition of free health care.
Looking at the figures in the polls suggests some reasons why - firstly there is how strongly people feel about the NHS. There is a clear example in the question on whether people would support a system of health insurance. People are pretty evenly split between supporting and opposing such a system. But of those supporting it 23% say they support it strongly and 24% say they support it weakly. Of those opposing a system of insurance 16% oppose it weakly and 33% oppose it strongly. People who oppose changing the NHS feel more strongly than those who support changes.
Secondly there is the political break-down of support. Surprisingly there is a not a huge difference between party supporters - it isn't just Tories who support compulsory health insurance, 47% of Labour identifiers do too. More importantly, it isn't just Labour idenifiers who would oppose such a move, 27% of Tory identifiers would strongly oppose compulsory health insurance.
This is the key, if there was 47% support for an alternative to the NHS and it was disproportionately drawn from one side of the political spectrum then that party could adopt and champion reform. With support and opposition apread across the political spectrum no party can afford to endorse radical reform of the NHS without encountering diehard opposition from amongst some of their own supporters.
