In the 1990s I lived in New Zealand for a while. Whilst there, I had a health insurance policy through my company (and the same policy was available to all the employees, including those working machines on the factory floor). It was a Southern Cross Ultracare scheme. Southern Cross had less extensive schemes for those whose companies paid (or who themselves paid) less. This was the top scheme.
My Southern Cross Ultracare policy enabled me to take my voucher and present it at a Southern Cross clinic, to receive treatment without parting with cash. If I attended another health clinic I claimed back from Southern Cross (and for larger amounts I could arrange to have Southern Cross pay directly). Here were a few features of my experience:
- I never waited more than 15 minutes to see a doctor
- The clinics were always spotless; The staff were always courteous; The doctors took the notion of informed consent very seriously, and explained things very clearly so that I could understand and take decisions.
- I never waited more than two weeks to see a specialist. I never waited more than a few weeks for an operation. (As it happened, I needed both of these.)
- I was entitled to $400 per year of dental care (this was 13 years ago, and that was sufficient that I never parted with cash, despite my poor teeth)
- I had my short sight laser corrected without parting with any cash
Why have I given you this list and told you this tale? Because it illustrates that under insurance-based health care, there is the very real possibility of having comprehensive healthcare that is totally free at the point of need (I never had to pay at the time I was treated). It has become fashionable, even in Conservative circles, to suggest that insurance-based solutions cannot cater for the needs of the less-well-off. This is simply a falsehood. It does not necessarily follow that an insurance-based system is the best form of public healthcare, or even that it is superior to the type of system we have now. But wouldn't you, and many others, like the opportunity to provide the public health insurer with the incremental costs of providing a service like that I have described, rather than the service you currently receive from the NHS?