The Conservative-Liberal Democrat government’s Health and Social Care Bill, introduced to Parliament last Wednesday, aims to dismantle the National Health Service (NHS) and hand over its profitable components to private corporations. It is the continuation of the process of backdoor privatization set in motion across the public sector under the previous Labour government.
For working people who rely on the NHS, it will cause untold suffering and premature death, as universal and comprehensive health care, free at the point of delivery, would ultimately end.
Under the bill, General Practitioner (GP) led consortia will be given responsibility for 80 percent of the £100 billion NHS budget, from which they will commission patient treatment from “any willing provider”. The 152 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and 10 Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) that currently commission health care will be axed.
A new body, the NHS Commissioning Board,
will be able to shut down underperforming consortia, bring in private providers to take over commissioning, and provide financial incentives to GPs and their management teams.http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jan2011/nhsp-j25.shtmlGosh; that's precisely the same game plan as US ed deform.
We are being herded into preselected "choices" not only in the US, but globally.