Comments by "Helen Trope" (@heliotropezzz333) on "Awkward Backlash As Labour Gets Exposed For Lying About NHS And Trump" video.

This is wrong. It's setting up a straw man. As they stated the document proves that the NHS is not 'off the table' when it comes to US trade talks and any US trade deal post Brexit, and they could also have a secret agreement aside from any deal if they so choose. It also indicates that US drug companies are keen to increase the price of drugs to the NHS and the government is not telling them no. There's a myth peddled by the government and this video about how they are not 'selling off of the NHS'. However Boris can keep the NHS 'brand' and the 'free at the point of use element whilst allowing more and more health services to be sold off to private companies. He will hope because it will still be called the NHS and still free to use (in the short or medium term anyway), that people won't notice the gradual privatisation of health services. Health services that come under the Department of Health include social services and public health services as well as the NHS. Already 26% of funding goes to private companies. This is somewhat hidden by the fact that some of it goes to voluntary groups and local authorities who merely pass it on to private companies. Because it goes to the former bodies first, the government still classifies the funding as going to public services. You might think what does it matter who provides the services, but it does matter because: staff terms and conditions are often worse; if the private firm fails the taxpayer picks up the tab; money is unnecessarily siphoned out of the system in the form of profit; and private firms who are competitors and competing for contracts don't co-operate and share information in a way that provides for the best (seamless) patient care. The regular contracting round and process is complex and time consuming for those medical staff who need to input to it. It costs a lot to achieve and monitor and may become an inflexible and costly burden if circumstances change or the contract is not watertight. The way has also been opened for private companies to sue the NHS if they fail to win contracts. It requires a lot more accountants and consultants to run and maintain the system. If the NHS becomes predominantly privatised that could change the whole ethos of the NHS (that the patient comes first). The funding of the NHS is in the public domain at the moment but when Hunt was Secretary of State, an attempt was made to sneakily change the structure of funding bodies to align them with the format of those in the USA which would have made it easy for private companies to take this over, so private companies would be deciding how the money is spent. If that happened there would not be much of the NHS as we know it left - mainly the brand and the fact that it's free at the point of use, until a worsening of service would mean the Tories could gain enough support for changing it to an insurance based system and bingo, long term objective achieved. If you don't think the NHS is being gradually privatised, speak to anyone who works in it.
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