Overview
- The Institute for Public Policy Research released a comparative study that rejects a switch to European-style social health insurance and says the NHS’s core failings stem from how money is invested, not how it is raised.
- The report places the UK second-worst out of 22 wealthy countries for treatable mortality, a measure of deaths that timely and effective care should prevent.
- Despite a record annual health budget of about £242 billion, the UK lags peers on capacity, with roughly 19 MRI, CT and PET scanners per million people compared with about 50 in similar tax-funded systems and up to 68 in insurance-based systems, which slows diagnosis and treatment.
- Across the 22-country analysis, tax-funded systems show lower patient bills and bureaucracy, with UK out-of-pocket costs at about 2.6% of household income versus 3.5% in insurance models, and administrative costs at 2.2% versus 3.5%.
- Health Secretary Wes Streeting endorsed the report’s focus on targeted investment as NHS England flagged trusts with deaths far above expected levels, naming Blackpool, Medway and Morecambe Bay at roughly 28.8% to 31.9% above.