Ben Nuttall

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Tuesday, 8 September 2009

We Love The NHS

As you probably know, there's a lot of discussion about the UK's state health service - particularly with regards to the future of America's health service. It's been a recent Trending Topic on Twitter (#welovethenhs). Anyway, this prompted me to think about what I think should be freely available to anyone, regardless of how wealthy they are. Here's what I think:

• Health Care
• Education
• Housing
• Access to a Library (and hence, the Internet)
• Healthy Food
• Advice (Citizen's Advice Bureau)
• Exercise (not a gym membership - just the ability to exercise in the outdoor environment - like the Chinese exercise parks)
• Public Transport (making all of the above less restricted)

But how far do we take each of these? If health care is freely available, does that include dental treatment? What about people who get themselves into health trouble by living unheathily (bad diet, drink, drugs, smoking, lack of exercise)? Does this stretch to physiotherapy? Abortions? Mole/wart removal? Should free education be capped at age 16? 18? 21? Not at all? I'm annoyed at how expensive it is to eat healthily and think the government should enforce rules on supermarkets to reduce the price of fruit, vegetables and organic foods.

There are some other things I think should be freely available to anyone, regardless of wealth, that are more extreme examples (in a perfect world), such as:

• Public Transport (all over the UK)
• A home telephone line (and calls to anywhere)
• A home internet connection
• Sufficient heating at home

I think that if someone wants to go to London (to see family/friends or just to see London), they should be able to go and not restricted by money. If someone needs to go somewhere locally or further afield, they should just be able to go. If this was the case, so many more opportunities would be available to people. I think that if someone wants or needs to call someone, they should be able to do so, regardless of distance, without having to worry about how much it will cost. Some people have relatives abroad, it's not their fault - but why should they have to pay more to speak to them? If someone goes on holiday, why should they be worried about how much it will cost to call home? Fortunately for me, Vodafone had a fantastic summer roaming promotion throughout June, July and August, which meant I could call & text anyone back at home as normal (it took it out of my minutes as if I was at home) - this was great - and there's no reason they shouldn't have it going all year round. Maybe in the next couple of years it will start becoming more standard that that is the case. Another thing is heating - why should someone have to worry about their heating bill and have to live in a freezing cold house? I know the government have a Winter heating allowance for pensioners which is great, but it shouldn't be limited to the elderly.

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be any incentive for anyone to work - because if everyone has all these things anyway they might not feel the need to go out and earn a living, but there are plenty of things which would still be a luxury. If someone is unemployed, they have no income and more pressure is placed upon them - if they can't afford to pay their telephone line rental this will hinder their chances of getting employed (as they won't be able to ring anyone or have them ring them), and why should their state of health be affected by unemployment? It just pushes them further away from the ones living in luxury. I think as long as a person lives within the law and works to earn a living (or makes the effort to find work), there are certain things they should be entitled to.
I feel the opposite about convicted criminals - they should not have any luxuries like Sky TV but their health should not be affected. They should have the ability to eat healthily and exercise but not live in comfort and luxury - why should a convicted criminal be better off than a hard working man on minimum wage?

Labels: Miscellaneous

Posted by Ben Nuttall at 13:04

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