Billions for the NHS
BBC News
April 17, 2002
Spending on the NHS in England will top £100 billion in five years time, Chancellor Gordon Brown has announced.
Mr. Brown has accepted the recommendations of the Wanless Report into the future needs of the health service.
Earlier, a report by former NatWest chief executive Derek Wanless had called for NHS spending to more than double by 2022.
Mr. Wanless said spending on the NHS should rise to £184 billion a year from £68 billion a year now.
His report said the health service had been underfunded by £200 billion over the last 30 years. He called for an initial five year period of high growth to catch up, followed by a lower level of sustained investment.
In his Budget speech, the Chancellor said spending would increase by an average of 7.4% in real terms for each of the next five years - in part funded by a 1% increase in national insurance contributions.
The projections in the report show the UK spending between 10.6% and 12.5% of GDP on health care by 2022. This compares with 7.7% today.
Mr. Brown dismissed calls for alternative funding methods for the health service. General taxation was the equitable option, he said.
Chancellor Gordon Brown:
"We now have the best chance in a generation to secure our national health service, not just for a year or two, but for the long term. The NHS is a British ideal, free at the point of need for everyone in every part of Britain."
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1935000/1935730.stm>http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1935000/1935730.stm
Comment: It looks like the opponents of universal health care in the United States won't have the British NHS to kick around anymore.