Wes Streeting has spent years talking about NHS reform – but he’s always had a red line on ‘free at the point of use’. At the start of the year the Health Secretary suggested he’d rather ‘die in a ditch’ before giving up on this principle. But is something about to give?
What’s interesting about Streeting’s comments is the reframing of ‘free at the point of use’ as a matter of affordability
Asked today at the Tony Blair Institute’s conference if the UK needed to keep ‘free at the point of use throughout the NHS’ – or if some kind of top-up system could be considered for those who can afford it – Streeting did not give his usual, straightforward answer. Instead, he seemed to create a new definition for the concept.
‘Free at the point of use is about fairness and equity,’ he said. ‘And defending a system that means when you fall ill, you do not need to worry about the bill.
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