Nigel Farage has suggested that some British families could be forced to pay health insurance to use the NHS if he was Prime Minister.
The Reform UK leader defended his previous comments that said the UK is one day “going to have to move to an insurance-based system of health care”. He insisted he was not asking people to pay for a GP but suggested that those who can afford health insurance should pay it.
Labour’s analysis shows patients could be left paying more than £120 for a GP appointment, more than £1,300 for an A&E visit, or an eyewatering £23,000 for a hip replacement, under an insurance-based model. The party has today launched a new advertising campaign exposing Mr Farage’s plans and calling on him and his party to “come clean with voters” about how much their alternative healthcare system will cost. It has accused him of “selling out” working people through plans to introduce an insurance-based health service.
Labour has also released an anti-Reform UK advertisement that wraps around the Birmingham Mail, ahead of Mr Farage’s local election launch in the city this evening. Billboards displaying attack ads have also gone live at various locations around the city.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting accused Mr Farage of being a “threat to the NHS”. He said watching the Reform UK leader and Kemi Badenoch revealing their policy ideas was like viewing the film Alien vs Predator, the tagline of which is: “Whoever wins… We lose.”
On a visit to the North West ahead of the Labour’s “NHS Day of Action” on Saturday Mr Streeting told ITV News: “One of the reasons we’re calling out Nigel Farage is I genuinely think he’s a threat to the NHS. We don’t know whether it’s Nigel Farage or Kemi Badenoch that we’ll face at the next general election – it’s a bit like watching Alien vs Predator. But neither of them are really committed to the NHS funding model.”
The Cabinet minister said if Mr Farage wants to go around saying he wants to be the next Prime Minister then he needs to start answering questions on his policy ideas. Mr Streeting continued: “Mr Farage, it’s time for you to start answering questions. What would you do for this country on the NHS? How would your insurance system work? What would the premiums be? Who can afford it and who can’t, and what’s wrong with the funding system we have?
“Because if you get knocked down by a bus today, whether you are the richest or poorest person in this country, you’re picked up by an NHS ambulance, taken to an NHS hospital, where you receive life saving care and you never have to worry about the bill. I think that’s fair, that is the Labour way. It’s not Nigel Farage’s way but with Labour , the NHS has turned the corner, it’s on the road to recovery and we don’t want to risk that recovery with Reform or the Conservatives.”
Speaking on BBC’s Today programme, Mr Farage earlier insisted he believed in the NHS but that “it doesn’t work, and everyone knows that”. Asked if people will have to pay to see a doctor if he was PM, the Clacton MP said: “No, no, no, they’re two different things. I’m not asking people to pay to go to the doctor. We’ve never said anything other than health care should be provided free at the point of delivery.”
But he did not deny his interest in people paying for health insurance. Asked about the plan, he said: “Only if they can afford it. I mean, that’s the point, only if they can afford it. At the moment, they pay for their health care through taxes. Is there a better way of doing this?”
He claimed Health Secretary Wes Streeting was looking at “similar things”, adding: “Everyone knows that we’re not getting bang for buck. Everyone knows we’re not getting value. Let’s re-examine the whole funding model and find a way that’s more efficient.”
According to Labour’s analysis, if Reform brought in an insurance-based system, comparable international systems show that patients could be left paying over £120 for a GP appointment, with an A&E visit potentially setting people back by upwards of £1,300. Routine operations like hip replacements could cost an eyewatering £23,000.
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On a visit to the North West ahead of the Labour Party’s “NHS Day of Action” on Saturday, Mr Streeting will today say the Reform Leader’s ramshackle plans would “dismantle our NHS from top to bottom”. The Health Secretary added: “Nigel Farage’s plan to make hard-working families pay eye-watering sums to get treatment when they’re sick is enough to send a shiver down the spine of the nation. Everyone deserves a world-class health service, not just the wealthy.
“Labour is investing in the NHS, Farage would cut it and give the money to the wealthiest. Labour is bringing waiting lists down, Farage would send them soaring. Labour is giving people their NHS back, Farage would give them a bill.”
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