Thread by @Ladycorvia

Some thoughts about the NHS. A thread.

Faced with the imminent installation of either Johnson or Hunt as Tory leader & Prime Minister it is worth thinking about the fact that the more brexity Tory party members are more than prepared to see the sale & destruction of the NHS

/1

They have said they are prepared to flush the NHS down the sewer as long as they get their brexit. Their brexit that in 3 years has gone from "no downside" and "sunlit uplands" through "there will be adequate food" right down to "there will be drinking water available".

/2

Wow. That's some regression.

But let's talk about the NHS.

We know (because he wrote a book about it) that Hunt wants to privatise the NHS. We know (because he finally admitted he deliberately lied) that Johnson will NOT be giving £350 million a week to fund the NHS.

/3

(My bet is he wants to privatise it too, BTW)

Let's consider something else. Mine (I am in my 60s) may be the first generation where it is *not* the norm for parents to lose one or more of their children to what we now regard as preventable child diseases.

/4

Indeed when we are faced with the tragedy of parents losing a child, our reaction is generally something along the lines of "no parent should have to bury their child".

And yet for much of the world this is not true. For much of history it was not true for us either.

/5

It is a great gift that it is true for us and for our children and grandchildren and for that, in the UK at least, we should thank Nye Bevan and the NHS. Free healthcare at point of use from cradle (and even pre-natal) to grave.

/6

Yes, most adults of working age pay for prescriptions but in many cases the drugs we get are greatly subsidised. (Those that aren't help to fund the others.) Children, the elderly, pregnant women & new mothers, and people with serious medical conditions DO NOT PAY.

/7

Think about that for a moment.

Think about the phrase "no parent should have to bury their child" and what that means.

No parent should have to bury their child.

/8

Our NHS saves lives. Every. Single. Hour. Of. Every. Single. Day.

It's free at point of use but of course it's not actually free. We pay for it throughout our working lives through National Insurance contributions.

/9

So we do pay medical insurance but unlike private medical insurance there are no exclusions. Unlike private medical insurance how much we pay depends not on what our medical needs are but directly in proportion to what we earn.

/10

We fund not just ourselves but those who are retired or too young to work just as we ourselves were funded by others as children and our parents and grandparents were funded by us. Just as we ourselves will be funded by future generations after we retire.

/11

The NHS is a wonderful, life-saving, holistic system. We are blessed to have it because, quite simply, it means less people die. Fewer parents are faced with the tragedy of losing a child. Our friends and loved ones have the chance to survive cancer.

/12

We, and they, have the chance to have organ transplants and receive disease modifying medications that enable us and them to live better, longer, or pain-free lives.

Think about that too and what it might mean to you or someone you love.

/13

We should be proud and thankful for our NHS. And it is OURS and we should be out on the streets protesting at the way it's being deliberately run down prior to being sold off to the Tories rich mates or given away for a trade deal with the US.

/14

As Joni Mitchell has it "you don't know what you've got til it's gone."

I hope we never have to find out the hard way what we had if they get their way and we wake up too late to find our NHS is gone.

#SaveOurNHS

/End