Challenge: Privatize the NHS or Social Security

With a POD of 1945. Of course, the GOP/ Tories must survive the voters' judgment.

It could be fairly easy in the case of NHS. If tories wins the war, or if labour has a different set of priorities (which probably would be difficult), a national healthcare system could be introduced on Bismarkian lines instead of Beveridge. Create one or more "insurance companies" (that are guaranteed and largly financed by the government) that pays doctors and hospitals for giving care, thereby avoiding a lot of future complains about NHS.

Both Germany and Netherlands had versions of this healthcare system, and have always had better care and more satisfied patients than the British.
 

wormyguy

Banned
I like the sound of privatizing the US version of Social Security. Privatize it, then arrest the buyers for running an illegal pyramid scheme. :p

I can see it now. After exposing the 2.5 trillion dollar scheme (how could the SEC miss it?), the "Social Security Liquidation Company" is set up to attempt to help investors recoup their losses.
 
If the Tories ended up winnin the 1945 which they seemed certain to you'd probabaly see a semi-private Health Service under Churchill. :)
 
The POD is 1945. When Mrs T was in power, she had to reassure the voters time and again that she wouldn't touch it. The Tories lost in '45 because they had no domestic plan. King stole the CCF platform to win in '45, but he wasn't a Tory.
 
Some kind of POD affects Britons' diets. Britons start getting progressively fatter and unhealthier (like Americans) and NHS becomes a MAJOR burden on the British government.

(Apparently that's one of the big reasons health-care costs in the US are so high.)

They privatize it in order to try to get it to run more efficiently and the privatized NHS gives everyone above a certain weight a year to adopt a healthier lifestyle with demonstrable results or be kicked off.
 
Some kind of POD affects Britons' diets. Britons start getting progressively fatter and unhealthier (like Americans) and NHS becomes a MAJOR burden on the British government.

(Apparently that's one of the big reasons health-care costs in the US are so high.)

They privatize it in order to try to get it to run more efficiently and the privatized NHS gives everyone above a certain weight a year to adopt a healthier lifestyle with demonstrable results or be kicked off.
Britons have been getting fatter and fatter.

The only way to do it in Britain is to have a very right-wing Tory Government, which knows it has no chance of re-election and wants to go down bringing down the NHS for ideological reasons. Once it is gone, I doubt attempts would be made to revive it, sadly.

Even then, the timeframe would be against them.
 
Britons have been getting fatter and fatter.

The only way to do it in Britain is to have a very right-wing Tory Government, which knows it has no chance of re-election and wants to go down bringing down the NHS for ideological reasons. Once it is gone, I doubt attempts would be made to revive it, sadly.

Even then, the timeframe would be against them.

They have?

I know French people are legendary for not being fat, but I thought Europeans in general were healthier than Americans.
 

wormyguy

Banned
They have?

I know French people are legendary for not being fat, but I thought Europeans in general were healthier than Americans.
They are, but our fast food osmosis is slowly clogging their arteries and dulling their minds. It's all part of the rice-eating yellow conspiracy, my friends.
 
The only way to do it in Britain is to have a very right-wing Tory Government,

Considering even Enoch Powell was largely favourable to the NHS and at least some form of a social safety net, the question rather arises as to just what sort of Tory would be required.

Saying 'Tories win in '45, dada' is also a cop-out, as if the Tories had won in '45 they would have implented something similar to the NHS, although far, far less centralised. But it would still have been broadly recognisable. All of the parties were signed up to Beveridge by the end of the war. Which means, non-privatised healthcare in some form.
 
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Hendryk

Banned
Some kind of POD affects Britons' diets. Britons start getting progressively fatter and unhealthier (like Americans) and NHS becomes a MAJOR burden on the British government.

(Apparently that's one of the big reasons health-care costs in the US are so high.)
The classic British diet couldn't be considered healthy by any stretch of the imagination. This is the sort of desperate excuse that anti-UHC activists use when they've run out of arguments. It's one step above Ann Coulter's claim that Americans have higher mortality rates not because of their substandard health care system, but because they keep killing each other with guns.
 
Considering even Enoch Powell was largely favourable to the NHS and at least some form of a social safety net, the question rather arises as to just what sort of Tory would be required.

Saying 'Tories win in '45, dada' is also a cop-out, as if the Tories had won in '45 they would have implented something similar to the NHS, although far, far less centralised. But it would still have been broadly recognisable. All of the parties were signed up to Beveridge by the end of the war. Which means, non-privatised healthcare in some form.
I didnt say it was at all probable, and being honest I dont think it would happen but you would need some Freidmanite ideologue running the Government. Personally, I cannot think of one.
MerryPrankster said:
They have?

I know French people are legendary for not being fat, but I thought Europeans in general were healthier than Americans.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8269462.stmhttp://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...s-in-denial-over-weight-problems-1791887.html
 
It could be fairly easy in the case of NHS. If tories wins the war, or if labour has a different set of priorities (which probably would be difficult), a national healthcare system could be introduced on Bismarkian lines instead of Beveridge. Create one or more "insurance companies" (that are guaranteed and largly financed by the government) that pays doctors and hospitals for giving care, thereby avoiding a lot of future complains about NHS.

Both Germany and Netherlands had versions of this healthcare system, and have always had better care and more satisfied patients than the British.


This is the most likely solution. And it may well eventually happen, although it would take some time.

Proposals are certainly out there to turn Social Security into a Compulsory Private Pension system. This would of course have higher levels of intergenerational equity and give contributors a market rather than below market high political risk rate of return. Pay as you go pensions tend to start off an extremely attractive deal and steadily decline as they, and the economy they are in, matures. Thus having "privatisation" before now is unlikely.

I think you should decide what you mean by "privatisation" in this instance.
 
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