By JB
Right-wing Reform leader Farage wants to replace the NHS with a USA style “insurance based model”.
One of the many companies the multi-millionaire Farage owns, which was set up in May 2024, is called ‘Action on World Health LLP’. As “Co-founder and Chairman” Farage wants to reform or replace the World Health Organisation.
One of its directors is also a director of a consultancy which advises, among other sectors, health care firms – “particularly mental and behavioural health”.
According to the hypocritical Labour Government Health Secretary Wes Streeting
“Farage has been pushing healthcare charges to his supporters in private for over a decade saying, “I think we are going to have to move to an insurance-based system of healthcare”. Now he’s going public, proposing that “if you can afford it, you pay”.
Richard Murphy- “Wes Streeting’s plans for the NHS all have one purpose, and that is to increase the role of the private sector and big pharmaceutical companies within it, at cost to us, the patients. He should not be trusted”.
Wes Streeting really does want to privatise the NHS
So with Farage and his Reform Party, along with Labour and the Tories, determined to privatise our NHS, this is the reality that could be coming to us all sooner than later and let’s be honest about it, just like their “ Poll Tax” they will “trial” it out in Scotland first!!!
“60,000 Americans die unnecessarily every year because they can’t afford to see a doctor”.
From a speech in 2024 at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Bernie Sanders said that “the U.S. health care system is “totally broken, it is a system not designed to provide health care to all people in a cost-effective way,” he said. “It is a system designed to make huge profits for the insurance companies, the drug companies, and many other industries within the system.”
Sanders stated that Americans spend $13,000 per person each year on health care.
“Across the country, 85 million people are either uninsured or underinsured. People in the U.S. pay more money for prescription drugs than people anywhere else in the world. And about 60,000 Americans die each year because they can’t get access to health care in a timely way.”
“If you are low-income or working-class in this country, your life expectancy will be 10 years shorter than people who have money. In other words, poverty in America is a death sentence.”
He also said that “ crushing amounts of medical debt” are to blame for 500,000 people going bankrupt each year.
Other problems are “lack of access to health care in rural areas and rural hospitals shutting down, and a massive mental health crisis.”
“ We don’t have enough doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, mental health counselors, dentists. We don’t even have enough pharmacists. We have a major crisis in our public health workforce.”
“Medical students”, he added, “face staggering debt for their education that can soar as high as $400,000 to $500,000.” Meaning that “new doctors are more likely to opt for a high-paying specialty rather than a position in primary care in a rural area in need of clinicians.”
Sanders called it “insane” that people’s health insurance is typically tied to their employment because it creates a system in which low-wage workers often have substandard health care. And if people lose their jobs—like many did during the pandemic—“they may also lose their health care, he said.”
From Oncology Times 2002
“Uninsured cancer patients are generally in poorer health and they are more likely to die prematurely than are persons with health insurance, largely because of delayed diagnosis,” said Mary Sue Coleman, PhD, the IOM committee co-chair, a biochemist and cancer researcher who recently became the President of the University of Michigan after serving as President of the University of Iowa and Iowa Health System since 1995.
“For example, uninsured women with breast cancer have a 30% to 50% higher risk of dying than women with private health insurance. Uninsured patients with colon cancer have a 50% to 60% higher mortality rate than those with private health insurance.”
The crippling financial toxicity of cancer in the United States
From a report by the National Library of Medicine 2019
“The term “financial toxicity” describes the financial burden experienced by cancer patients and its consequences. Patients who cannot afford their cancer care, even with insurance, often use their savings and borrow money to pay for treatment. Moreover, 40–85% of patients also need to take time off work or quit their jobs during cancer treatment, exacerbating their financial strife. To pay for their care, patients often alter their lifestyles by reducing spending and by selling possessions or property. Unfortunately, these lifestyle changes do not protect patients from incurring debt or declaring bankruptcy. Financial toxicity has been studied across multiple cohorts in the United States. In their recent article, Gilligan et al. report on financial toxicity in patients diagnosed with cancer.
Gilligan et al. characterized financial toxicity in 9.5 million newly diagnosed cancer patients over the age of 50 between 2000 and 2012. They reported that over 42% of patients fully depleted their assets and over 30% incurred debt (consumer, mortgage or home equity) by the second-year of their diagnosis. The odds of net worth depletion were higher for patients with worsening cancer, patients over 75 years old, as well as for patients with public or no insurance. By analyzing longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a large nationally representative cohort, their results provide compelling evidence of cancer-related financial toxicity across America.”
The crippling financial toxicity of cancer in the United States – PMC
SNP MSP Clare Haughey said: “With Nigel Farage openly proclaiming that the NHS should not be publicly funded and the UK Labour Government ‘holding the door open’ to more private healthcare involvement, it is clear that only the SNP can be trusted to stand up for the NHS.”
“The SNP will always stand by the founding principles of the NHS, keeping it free at the point of delivery and where it belongs, in public hands.”
“While other parties shift to the right to pander to the politics of Reform – with Anas Sarwar talking about working with them as he desperately attempts to get a whiff of power – the SNP will always stand up to Nigel Farage’s toxic agenda.”
Nigel Farage ‘doesn’t want’ NHS to be publicly funded | The National
JB
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Absolutely JB.
This is exactly what people need to know about Farage’s latest pseudo political party, because many of them, as people, are being swept up in a tide of hysteria (down South for now) with this fake party, whose ‘leader’ is taking tips from Trump and holding American style Rallies in England.
He and his party are thin on detail in respect to policies and how to fund their plans and that is purely because the details of what they intend to do would not go down very well with either the gullible masses and also those who are very much less gullible and so less inclined to trust, believe or vote for Reform UK (or indeed any of Farage’s parties).
Just now there are a loads of ads on social media from private healthcare providers that all state if you go Private for your health care then …..
“Go Private avoid the waiting times”.
Really ?
So if we do all “go private” for our health care , will that then not also cause higher waiting times for Private hospitals?
Also who then will get higher priority to receive their private health care ?
Those who pay high premiums or those on the lowest premiums ?
A tiered private Health care , where the service that you get is dependent on how much you pay.
As in what will be included and excluded in your private health care package ?
#ReadTheSmallPrint (tip from Gordon Brown for Independence supporters).
Also once the transition is made where services are taken away from the NHS and then are only available via Private Health care within the UK , how will we get these services back on the NHS if another government is elected within the UK ?
(Of course I jest as most UK parties support private Healthcare so will not reverse that much if they are elected as the next UK government).
Q’s Q’s and even more Q’s (indeed more Q’s than answers from the likes of Farage) yet this is Farage’s ultimate plans for the NHS……he wants to…..
Dismantle it , Defund it and replace it with an insurance based health care system for private health care.
Do those who vote for Reform UK think this is a winning ‘reform’ for them, if they as people have limited finances , and so they are currently struggling financially with high food costs , high energy costs and other higher costs in services for Broadband, mobile phone charges and indeed other insurance based services (Car, Home insurance etc) where payments are also all increasing.
So on top of all that how will they, as people within the UK, also be able to pay insurance premiums for their private health care ?
In fact how much can they afford to pay monthly in premiums that will include health treatments that they may need now or in the future, if they read the small print , there may be a lot of exemptions to their private health care policies based on them paying (only affording) lower premiums than others.
Farage recently cited (ironically) a European private health care Model (French style) that works well as an example that his UK could adopt.
However I am sure that is not the private Healthcare model that he would want to emulate or adopt, nope, as his preferred alignment will be with the American model of private Healthcare, which would see a private health care system similar to that of America, as in a disaster for those not on higher incomes.
The poor in America , and indeed also those in America who are less poor, could educate the ‘Brits’ on the many downsides and disadvantages to their expensive and very much exclusive American private healthcare system.
If it were not for the compassion of certain Doctors and Dentists in America then the poor would all just need to suffer and die due to the lack of medical and dental services available to them as they, as the poorest in America, just cannot afford to pay for the high costs of private medical care in America for certain medical procedures to be performed.
So I say to people in Scotland that real reform will not come from a party who names their party “Reform UK’ , but instead real reform will only come from a substantial reform that will only happen with Scottish independence.
As a first step to real Reform happening we need to vote for the SNP in 2026 as the pro UK parties and the media are to blame for the rise in popularity of the new (latest) political rogues on the block, that is Reform UK party, in England.
Reform UK party could potentially also infest our Scottish politics too, as some of the usual voter suspects in Scotland will vote for them and also the media here will support them, in platforming them, and so then let them into our parliament via the back door.
As to Labour’s Health Secretary , Wes Streeting , now introducing more privatisation into the NHS, well that is not surprising as those donations he received from a private healthcare provider have to produce some kind of return for that donor.
More privatisation in the NHS means more opportunity and more money for them.
Unfortunately our so called media in Scotland are mostly all too caught up in pumping out a succession of #SNPBAD articles to expose what is really happening.
Real Journalists will be those on social media and not mainstream Journalists , as most of those in the MSM are now a lost cause, as those individuals and companies who own the newspaper publications that they work for as ‘Journalists’ have them on a tight leash, so they cannot be real Journalists as instead they must become political propaganda merchants.
JB your article was brilliant and this is exactly what we need to share with everyone we know …..and all the rest too.
That is because real truth is always being hidden , just as it was hidden for Labour during the 2024 GE campaign as most of the media here protected Labour and some still are.
As to Farage , Tice and others in Reform UK, well if a mainstream ‘Journalist’ ever bothers to ask any of them a direct question then all you get is a vague non answer of …..perhaps, maybe, we’ll see, if we can.
That is not good enough as the public needs to know exactly what they plan to do if they are elected , what will they retain, what do they intend to get rid of and what will they introduce to replace those existing things that they want to get rid of and then how do they plan to pay for all of their , checks bloody notes, supposed ‘Reforms’ . (Who will pay ?)
They call themselves ‘Reform’ so they do need to tell the public exactly what they will ‘Reform’ and how they will reform these changes and how they will pay for it. If they cannot then perhaps they should change the title of their party to ‘Vague UK’ party.
The public in England seem to be sleepwalking into making yet another disastrous voting decision , as they did with Labour last year (though some in Scotland also did that too), but we in Scotland do have an alternate choice , the SNP, so we either take that option in voting SNP or we can kiss goodbye to our NHS and also kiss goodbye to many other public services that we currently enjoy. As privatisation will take over in Scotland with any of the UK parties in charge……
So does anyone in Scotland , in the future, want to swim in a sewage infested River as maintained by a Private Water company ?
Liz S
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“So does anyone in Scotland , in the future, want to swim in a sewage infested River as maintained by a Private Water company” ?
“maintained” of course is exactly what is not happening hence the sewage in English waterways.
Profit, Dividends and bonuses over service, that’s privatisation for you.
Liz S
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Follow the money , as we were so aptly told during Watergate !
Who donates big time to the Labour Party ?
Who funds ReformUK ?
Well , it isn’t me or you or anyone we know . So guess who will have influence on their policies ?
He who pays the piper/Government minister …..pockets the profit !
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“Follow the Money” indeed.
Farage supports what Trump is doing in America just now, just as he, Farage, also supported what Liz Truss did in her very very very short time as a Tory PM with her ‘mini’ budget that had a ‘major’ negative impact on the Markets.
She , Truss, also supports what Trump is doing in America just now.
(Well she, Truss, would support Trump , as she is a ‘follower’ not a ‘leader’ and she always chooses to follow the wrong people, I believe she is leaning towards Reform UK as her new party of choice, not shocked at all, perfect fit, both are rubbish).
Think of what is happening in America with Trump just now, as in his actions, as being a future template for what Reform UK plan to do in their UK should they ever gain any real power in 2029.
Remember when Crispin Odey , the then Hedge Fund Manager who was also a Tory donor and who was also a prominent supporter of Brexit made £220m by betting against the pound during the EU referendum in 2016 (the fool told the media on the morning after the result that he had made these millions speculating that the markets would fall, he said “Il mattino ha l’oro in bocca'” – which means “the morning has gold in its mouth”).
Wow did anyone follow that money , or were the media in Scotland covering another #SNPBAD Ferry story ?
(BTW in 2023 a Financial Times report stated that 13 women had accused Mr Odey of misconduct over 25 years – i.e. sexual assault and harassment allegations, so he then had to leave – pushed not jumped – the prominent finance firm that he formerly worked for- oh dear what a shame- his persoanl reputation may be damaged but I suspect his personal finances will not be).
It was reported on the eve of the 2016 EU Referendum that Farage said he thought Remain had won the EU Referendum , but how did he come to that conclusion , and he , as part of the ‘Leave’ campaign, conceded defeat on TV and but it was reported that he , in his position, would have been privy to data that showed the opposite.
It was also reported that Farage had received private polling an hour before indicating that Leave would, in effect, win the referendum, and so that action by him , was alleged by some, as apparently paving the way for money to be made that night because of Brexit , so perhaps it was not just the very very wealthy Mr Crispin Odey who made millions that night.
What was also alleged was that this was ““the biggest insider trading job in history, when pollsters colluded with hedge funds to create a fake bubble that was burst by a fake concession” delivered by Farage, according to Observer journalist Carole Cadwalladr”. (see Hedge Nordic article online dated 28/6/2018 under headline “Brexit Collusion Between Hedge Funds, Pollsters – and Farage”?).
If you want to know what is happening in America then check out these two accounts below as they give a really good idea of what is going on (wrong) in America with responses on their Blue Sky accounts from actual Americans who hate Trump and also hate his Republican colleagues.
( BTW they , as ordinary Americans, also hate the Republicans client media like Fox News, and we all know who owns Fox News as he also owns part of the UK print media here as well, who , as a media, are also client media for a specific UK political party (mostly Tory party but they could be swayed by Reform UK or even a now more right wing Labour party).
The Accounts to look at are Ron Filipkowski Blue Sky & also Aaron Rupar Blue Sky.
Vote SNP in 2026 or alternately just plan to make things even worse than now in voting for someone else in 2026 , which seems hard to believe it could get any worse, but a UK party would succeed in doing that, for sure. As UK parties are far far far more successful in always failing the UK public than they are in winning at improving things for us as the UK public. (See Tory UK governments and also now the current Labour UK government as prime examples of this that proves I am telling the truth)
Liz S
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George Caldow
SNP MSP Clare Haughey trod out the same party line and yet again never expanded on the SNP good. Trust us.
Has she not noticed that trust in Politicians and the SNP is waning due to constant lies and the feeling that they no longer stand for Independence. They never talk about what could be changed with all the levers they talk about not having in the possession of the Scottish Government.
She could have added, “The NHS is an insurance based model which is funded by ability through our taxation. This means all are able to access without fear of cost. As taxation of the extremely wealthy whether direct or a Wealth tax on asset gain is never considered due to their influence, the austerity policies of the English parties have made more and more cuts to destroy the service. It is the way they managed to get the previous disastrous privisations through previously.
If the Public Service is poor the repeated soundbite that the Private Sector will be better is in the public’s mind.
NHS admin cost 2.5%. Private Healthcare often as much as 30% between shareholder dividends and excessive management salaries..
For too long it’s been manipulated for Political gains. Its staff pillaried for doing an exceptional job in extremely difficult conditions.
The English governments since Churchill in 1951 have been trying to dismantle it. A privatised system is a means of the rich maintaining and increasing their wealth. We were encouraged to clap the NHS staff through Covid. How they were truly seen was clear as the Bankers got their bonuses back, while the NHS staff terms and conditions were shafted in England.
Johnston’s promised 40 hospitals never happened much like his 200000 council homes of which he built 0. Even Andrew Neill picked him up on that.”
I have several thoughts on how SNHS could evolve. I’ve never heard a Health Minister give any vision for the future. They need to step up before we lose it by showing how a public NHS works better and how it would expand for needs in the future.
She could have gone on to show what the Scottish Government is doing which I seriously doubt a Private Healthcare system would do. The problem in Primary Care especially rural GP’s. My area has several young GP’s attracted by the £10000 bounty. They are finding the area much better than they anticipated and look to stay long term.
Now it is just a sticking plaster. Most GP’s are contractors to the NHS. Their premises and practise are almost like their pension fund. I was amazed when I married two trainee GPs’ that in addition to their debts from five years in medical school, they had to find £30000 each for the “GP’s bag containing all their necessary equipment.”
We hear of the time spent by GPs’ managing their practices, their financial struggles impacting on the time spent with patients. Is it not time to explore NHS GP practices where the GPs are fully employed with agreed staffing levels? If necessary purchase the GP’s premises. Many may not be fit for purpose but could be returned to the housing stock. New premises may be better served amalgamating several small or single person practices to provide suitable treatment rooms.
As technology evolves more and more operations will become possible but due to cost much will be centralised. The new FFC-MRI as an example. The tendency is to contract those facilities outside the main hospitals. We should be looking to expand those. Many are at the end of their working lives but the provision of medical beds in the rural hospitals, allow patients after the surgery to be moved to them, allowing rehabilitation (not getting a leaflet with suggested exercises) and care. It would remove bed blocking from acute care.
The new hospitals necessary to replace the existing ones could have respite accommodation to give carers a break. If we utilise our existing owned land and it allows perhaps the addition of Sheltered Housing or Care Home.
While I am in favour of free University education as it helps all participate it is not free. I’m happy to pay my tax so that in the future I have the Medical Staff, Engineers etc I need to have a great country. I would add to the contract for their free Higher Education, a caveat, that for an agreed length of time they work in Scotland afterwards or repay the costs on a scale depending on long they have worked.
Why should I fund a Doctor’s training and after they qualify they head to England for free?
We do need to train more doctors and nursing staff. Part of that will mean we expand the hospitals they train in. The Islands and Rural areas should be included. It will mean the provision of accommodation probably but, I hope, like the young GPs’ here, by seeing and meeting people outside of the usual big cities, they will feel more inclined to move to those areas which will be a benefit to all.
It can’t be done overnight but to have a vision of the future the public could identify with will win over those on the fence.
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Prompted by the phrase ‘what people need to know’ in a btl post above, I’d like to revisit this from TuS btl (April 27, 2025): ’ Remarkable article in the Wales section of the BBC News website (dated April 26): ‘Thousands attend Welsh independence march’.
See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj0zpz2ev6eo
From that post: ‘Remarkable for BBC Scotland watchers: (i) the event is reported; (ii) indeed, the event is reported at length; (iii) pro-Indy politicians are quoted, giving out pro-Indy messages; (iv) there is NO countering negative framing anywhere in the piece.
‘There is a pro-Indy march in Glasgow soon. How will BBC Scotland act?’
The BBC Wales article was reporting a Yes Cymru and All Under One Banner Cymru march held in Barry: the BBC stated that South Wales Police estimated that between 6,000-7,000 people attended.
As noted in the earlier btl contribution, the other noteworthy aspect of the BBC Wales article – apart from it being published at all and also its length – was its content, specifically extensive quotes from speakers and other attendees:
‘Phyl Griffiths, YesCymru chair, said the event was a “reflection of the mood across Wales”. Since 2019, thousands have taken part in independence marches across Wales – including in Cardiff, Carmarthen, Bangor, Swansea, Wrexham and Merthyr Tydfil.’ (my emphasis)
“People are ready for change, and independence is no longer a fringe idea. It’s a serious, hopeful response to a broken system.
“We’re seeing growing support, especially among younger generations who’ve had enough of being told Wales is too small or too poor.” And: “We know better – and today, thousands of people showed that we’re ready to take our future into our own hands.”
Former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood: ‘Ms Wood said it was “time to end our dependence”, adding there was an “opportunity to build an alternative to the failed economic model that serves the City of London while leaving crumbs for communities in Wales“.
Rhun ap Iorwerth MS, Plaid Cymru leader: ‘.. said recent independence polls were moving in a “positive direction”.
“As disillusionment with Westminster grows in Welsh communities, we are also seeing a growing confidence that Wales should have the right and resources to decide its own future” he said.
Kiera Marshall, 27, a former Plaid Cymru candidate: “How can we afford not to be independent? The UK system keeps us poor, while our children go hungry and cold. We are the generation bearing the brunt of this system, but we are also the generation who will change it.”
The BBC even reported the name of a Welsh celebrity singing at the event!
At the bottom of the article there is a sub-heading ‘More on this story’. BBC Wales provides links to additional BBC articles with the following headlines e.g.: ’Thousands join march for an independent Wales’ (June 22, 2024) and ‘Independence for Wales is viable, says report’ (January 18, 2024).
The word that comes to mind is ‘normalisation’: all part of normal news journalism from the public broadcaster in Wales; all part of acknowledging that such a national political movement and its aims are legitimate, normal … and popular too.
There was an All Under One Banner march and rally in Glasgow on Saturday May 3. I’ve seen references to c. 5,000 attending. Just checked the Scotland pages of the BBC News website. Nothing – no reporting of the event – and crucially, as a consequence, no opportunity to report the other information and messages of the sort carried in the BBC Wales article. (It’s probably inconceivable. that BBC Scotland would ever publish. anything akin to the BBC Wales piece anyway!) Has anyone seen or heard any mainstream media reporting of the AUOB march?
‘What people need to know’? Or is it what BBC Scotland considers people in Scotland shouldn’t get to know?
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My feelings on this is that BBC Wales would do the exact same as BBC Scotland.
That is , if it was Plaid Cymru as the current Welsh government, then they, BBC Wales, would also choose to quash any promotion of any marches in Wales for Welsh independence, just as BBC Scotland does with our independence marches in Scotland, as we currently have an SNP Scottish government.
Currently there is a Labour Welsh government, that are a pro UK Welsh government, so perhaps BBC Wales assumes that they can , for now, be more transparent , honest and give more extensive coverage in their reporting on the Welsh Independence marches.
Perhaps the BBC do not care about Wales as much as they do about Scotland with our plentiful rich resources for their UK’s benefit, or perhaps they, the BBC, are (over) confident that many new ‘Settlers’ within Wales will out vote any actual Welsh people into deciding to leave their UK , who knows what their , BBC, logic is and who cares.
I know not much of what Wales has in way of resources other than a rich supply of that most precious commodity known as water that keeps us , as humans, alive , but that is also most plentiful in Scotland too, however a Welsh person could school me on this or I could research it online. Unfortunately it’s hard enough researching, challenging and then rebutting most of the dodgy arguments made against Scottish independence to then also try to fight for our friends in Wales as well. Something I am sure they are more than capable of doing themselves , always with our support obviously.
Is it not so so so very frustrating that they, the BBC, know , that we know, what they, the BBC, truly are , yet they the BBC, as a fake news media, never change their behaviour which is , what we know to be, both corrupt and extremely biased against anything and everything that does not support or vote for anything British , be it politics or indeed any other part of the British establishment (including them , the BBC, an example of one of the worst parts of that British establishment).
Vote SNP in 2026 , if nothing else , in doing that it could be a first step to eventually getting the British Broadcasting Corporation out of Scotland as those who are a non reliable news source, however we could, in the future, buy some of their excellent BBC period dramas, as other countries currently do just now, but they will not ever get to (fake) report again upon Scotland’s politics to Scottish viewers as a (fake) news channel once we are independent as a nation.
(Great comment by you stewartb, and as per , very relevant and also very well written too).
Liz S
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Reform will not last very long. Attacking the NHS. The best appreciated service in the UK.
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