The NHS - time for a radical shake-up

[Mich the Tester]

In Eastleigh they've shut the local car plant because the work has gone to Turkey - all done by EU subsidy....

Ford's £80m EU loan to boost Turkey factory - and close ours (From Daily Echo)

It gets more and more difficult to defend the EU when this kind of thing happens.

[formant]

You get off the plane, you enrol for an English course, you can then get an NI number, you can then get unlimited free NHS treatment, you then go home (if you want, or just stay on benefits).

And we wonder why we as a nation are bankrupt save for the printing presses?

You can only get an NI number if you have a valid work contract (which you'll only get if you actually have the right to work in the UK).

You do not need an NI number to register with an NHS GP (say, if you're a student).

You won't get benefits if you've never worked here and thus have no NI number.

So health tourism - yeah, possible. Benefits tourism, much less so.

[DimPrawn]

So what will you do when UKIP takes us out of Europe and all the foreign investors (e.g. most car companies) who are here for access to Euro markets decide to leave? Which they will.
Wasn't it some UKIP UK-centric moron who claimed that Germany exports more cars to the Uk than China?
What is UKIP's answer to the inevitable globalisation of markets and labour apart from insularity?
What is UKIP's answer to the inevitable rise of India and China as global superpowers, apart from a vague distaste about the browns and yellows?

Voting UKIP will sharply accelerate the UK's economic decline as it becomes an unwelcoming backwater on the fringes of Europe. It will make it difficult for Uk nationals to work in Europe.
It's no surprise that most UKIP voters are lower middle class elderly men with poor skill levels.
UK Polling Report
And for those reasons, I'm out.

Haven't got time to go through all that, sorry. But in the meantime, you might want to read up on:

European Economic Area - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
European Free Trade Association - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And

Members of the EEA can work in the EU without any problems. E.g. Norway

https://www.gov.uk/working-abroad/overview

[formant]

Personally i would remove duty on booze and fags and refuse to treat lifestyle illnesses. That should reduce the number of useless chunts cluttering up the corridoors.

Or at least make those people co-pay for their treatment.

(Problem with 'lifestyle illnesses' is that it's hard to draw the line. What if someone breaks one bone after the other due to risky sporting habits? (for example))

[Troll]

Or at least make those people co-pay for their treatment.

(Problem with 'lifestyle illnesses' is that it's hard to draw the line. What if someone breaks one bone after the other due to risky sporting habits? (for example))

What about charging gays for any AIDS treatment? or porkers for gastric bypass?

[sasguru]

In Eastleigh they've shut the local car plant because the work has gone to Turkey - all done by EU subsidy....

Ford's £80m EU loan to boost Turkey factory - and close ours (From Daily Echo)

For every example you give there are several where EU money has come to the UK, especially oop North.

[formant]

Haven't got time to go through all that, sorry. But in the meantime, you might want to read up on:

European Economic Area - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
European Free Trade Association - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And

Members of the EEA can work in the EU without any problems. E.g. Norway

https://www.gov.uk/working-abroad/overview

And you imagine that EEA and EFTA membership would happen automatically? Like there'd be a gapless transition following an EU exit?
Sure....

[sasguru]

Haven't got time to go through all that, sorry.

No I'm sure you don't, thinking through issues is hard work.
But looking at the figures, only 8% of under 35s support UKIP, which is in any case a mid-term protest party like the Lib Dems used to be. So you're really supporting a (literally) dying protest party.

HTH, BIDI

[formant]

What about charging gays for any AIDS treatment? or porkers for gastric bypass?

I see you got my point about 'lifestyle illnesses' being hard to define, with everyone drawing the lines elsewhere.

(most porkers are already charged for gastric bypass and forced to do it privately - this isn't something given out lightly by the NHS, even though it probably should be, cause it tends to make them cheaper customers in the long run)

Whilst it's easy to blame the individual for the immediate effects of a night of too much drink - it's harder to blame long-term conditions on one single factor.

[DimPrawn]

And you imagine that EEA and EFTA membership would happen automatically? Like there'd be a gapless transition following an EU exit?
Sure....

We can't go on with the status quo. Labour, Lib Dems, Tories will never change a thing. It's all talk about rearranging the deck chairs. Radical change is never going to be easy, but it's the only way to stem the slide into poverty for the majority.