"I wouldn't start from here..."

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I have been pondering on our health service - not on the silly yah-boo, back-and-forth debate or the risible "I heart NHS" stuff but on the real question. Do we have the health care standards we should expect as one of the world's richest countries?

So here's a question - if we were starting from the position of 1945 but with the advances in care, surgery and medicine since that time would we set up a centralised, nationalised system? Or would we chose an insurance-based system? Or some form of hybrid?

The answer to this question - substantiated, evidenced and argued - would provide a better basis for future health policy than "ring-fencing" of funding or just plain lying about funding, care, organisation and the extent of externalisation of service.

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