{"id":20382,"date":"2020-04-18T06:23:43","date_gmt":"2020-04-18T06:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=20382"},"modified":"2020-04-22T04:15:41","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T04:15:41","slug":"why-boris-johnson-wont-have-to-pay-any-hospital-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/why-boris-johnson-wont-have-to-pay-any-hospital-bills\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Boris Johnson won’t have to pay any hospital bills"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke Reader<\/a>, Case Western Reserve University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

While British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recovers from a life-threatening bout of COVID-19 that hospitalized him for a week, including three nights in an intensive care unit<\/a>, he won\u2019t have to worry about medical bills<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He will be able to resume leading his country through the greatest crisis it has faced since World War II without that worry for one simple reason, and it\u2019s not that he\u2019s a high-ranking, powerful government official. It\u2019s that he lives in the U.K.<\/a><\/p>\n

A publicly funded single-payer system<\/h2>\n

The U.K.\u2018s National Health Service<\/a>, which provides all types of health care<\/a> \u2013 including pharmacies and primary doctors, dental and mental health care, sexual health services, ambulances and hospitals \u2013 does not charge for most services. There are modest fees for dental and vision care<\/a>, as well as prescriptions. But in general, nobody collects patients\u2019 insurance information or credit card details \u2013 because they don\u2019t need to.<\/p>\n

Nobody even has to argue with an accountant at an insurance company<\/a> about whether a payment should be approved. More expensive treatments and medications are rationed to some degree, but not based on a patient\u2019s ability to pay for the treatment or an expensive insurance plan that will cover it. Instead, the National Institute for Clinical Health Excellence<\/a> makes cost-effectiveness recommendations<\/a> about treatments based on how many years of good health will result from a particular approach.<\/p>\n

Around 11% of Britons have some form of private health insurance<\/a> to provide additional coverage outside the National Health Service. But the vast majority of British people don\u2019t deal with insurance companies at all.<\/p>\n

Instead, the NHS is largely funded by income taxes<\/a>. It also gets some additional revenue from workers, who pay compulsory national insurance contributions<\/a>, nominal charges for prescriptions, dental and eye care \u2013 and some extra fees like access to hospital parking lots.<\/p>\n

The NHS covers all those designated as \u201cordinarily resident<\/a>\u201d in the U.K. \u2013 which doesn\u2019t include tourists and undocumented immigrants, though they can still get emergency services and treatments for communicable diseases<\/a> like tuberculosis or HIV and the coronavirus, in some cases for free.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Residents of a London neighborhood cheer and clap to thank National Health Service workers for their efforts to fight the coronavirus outbreak.<\/span>
\nLeon Neal\/Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A popular program<\/h2>\n

The service itself is very popular, accessible and efficient<\/a>: The Brexit movement Johnson led claimed that the country could invest in the National Health Service<\/a> the millions of pounds it otherwise would send to the European Union.<\/p>\n

While some people are frustrated with how the NHS is run<\/a>, that may be due to consistent underfunding<\/a> over the past decade. Since 2010, the Conservative Party, which Johnson now leads, has attempted to reduce overall government spending in the U.K.<\/p>\n

Funding for health services<\/a> rose by an average of just 1.4% a year between 2009 and 2019, reaching \u00a3140 billion in 2019-2020. This means that funding decreased in real terms: Inflation averaged 3.1%<\/a> between 2009 and 2018.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not yet clear what effect Johnson\u2019s hospital stay may have on his desire to uphold his earlier commitments<\/a> to boost NHS funding. But the public nature of his illness and recovery provides Americans with a close look at an alternative model of paying for health care.<\/p>\n

A clear social mission<\/h2>\n

Created in 1948, the National Health Service built on a pre-existing patchwork system<\/a> of social services.<\/p>\n

At the time, some local authorities like the London County Council offered public access to health care<\/a>, but many others did not. By the mid-1930s<\/a>, around half of workers \u2013 but not their families, who relied on charitable free clinics \u2013 could get government-run health insurance plans that provided physician services; employer-run or cooperative funds frequently met the cost of hospital treatment.<\/p>\n

In 1942, Sir William Beveridge<\/a>, a pioneering activist for the Liberal Party, the forerunner of the U.K.\u2018s present-day Liberal Democrats, laid out a plan for a different future. He released a report, \u201cSocial Services and Allied Insurance<\/a>,\u201d that identified five \u201cevils\u201d hindering the proper development of British society: \u201cwant,\u201d \u201cdisease,\u201d \u201cignorance,\u201d \u201csqualor\u201d and \u201cidleness.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Beveridge urged the nation to fight those evils by developing a \u201ccradle to grave<\/a>\u201d welfare state that provided health care, promised full employment and granted benefits to those in need.<\/p>\n

The Labour government elected in July 1945, and headed by Prime Minister Clement Attlee, expanded on Beveridge\u2019s ideas. Labour argued that a universal welfare state, particularly a National Health Service, could provide \u201cfor the most far-reaching extension of social citizenship<\/a>\u201d in British history, forging a new sense of national community through equal access to publicly funded social services.<\/p>\n