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Fighting to Save our NHS from profiteers
The phrases "creeping privatisation" and "privatisation by stealth" are commonly seen in the media - Trump's 2019 visit has stirred the phrases up again in what appears to be a pretence that we still have an NHS free of American influence and if we let Trump take advantage of Brexit we will see the NHS "sold-off" and "privatised" by the USA. But don't let the media convince you and don't let campaign fist-thumping convince you that if we tell the President to "F*ck Off" all will be well. It won't and it is not a simple exercise.
The American health companies are already here, they've been embedded within the NHS - hiding neatly behind the blue logo - for years now. Since the early 2000's. It's sad and we don't relish telling people that our country has been let down and betrayed by all our political parties over the last three dacades but truth will out.
The American corporations, gready for global ownership of anything, have eaten their way into our system - promoting the FALSE mantra that Public Services are wasteful, and expensive and Private Companies are more efficient and cheaper. The psychological message "Public Bad, Private Good" is a simple message and the global business groups, who have had their eyes on our incredible health service for a long time, have repeated it over and over until we the public have started to believe it. Certainly our mainstream political parties and media have bought into it.
We know that PUBLIC is GOOD. PRIVATE is BAD. Bad for our Health. Bad for our country's wellbeing.
We also know the drivers of this psychological battle - the American Healthcare Industry - have been embedding themselves within our NHS and behind the blue logo for years.
So let's see the evidence...
Stopping this USA style healthcare was what our Judicial Review was about during 2018/19
Accountable Care Organsitions, Systems, Partnerships - don't be distracted by the names - are all based on the Medicare/Medicaid USA model.
We were all DENIED Justice by the Courts System which ignored all the technical legal points and chose to side with the Establishment.
Austerity economics is proving to be a big fat lie.
The mantra "there is not enough money" or the Conservatives' "there is no magic money tree" is total nonsense and economists are now beginning to challenge the "no deficit - balance the books" idealogy that the corporate sector from within America has spread globally since the 1960's.
If we are to understand that the NHS as a comprehensive healthcare service is possible and DESIREABLE for any civilised society then we must get our heads round modern economics.
We are developing a section of the website focusing on the lies of Austerity and why the NHS can be afforded and will be the more cost-effective when it is returned to our public hands. It will be updated very soon.
One of the best and easy to read articles that every campaigner should read and share. You'll see that talk of "creeping privatisation" and "threats to the NHS" are nonsense.
The USA is already here doing it's dirty business in our NHS.
Written by Deborah Harrington - PUBLIC MATTERS.
Warning: you will be shocked.
So what are we going to to do about it?
The largest USA Healthcare Insurance company are here in the UK, (they are global) and have been since the early 2000's thanks to New Labour's Health Secretary Alan Milburn and others working in the Blair 3rd Way fallacy.
When he was Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt was famous for his love of all things Kaiser - he visited them in California and came back spouting their mantra of SAFETY and using it to justify developing Accountable & Integrated Care models.
Kaiser are responsible for much of the promotion of the USA Home Maintenence Organisation model - lumping healthcare (Staff, services & Patients) into bundles, federations and networks. Also introducing the idea keeping people OUT of hospital because that (for the profit margins) is the "expensive" bit of healthcare.
But Jeremy Hunt wasn't the first.
The corporate "moving in" behind the blue logo has been going on for years.
Here are some links to articles examining the history.
Open Democracy/OurNHS: Why are GPs being told to hand billions-worth of NHS decisions to private health firms and their lobbyists?
Optum UK - the subsidiary company of UNITED HEALTHCARE
Optum moving into roles beyond support - NHS England hires Optum Alliance to speed up formation of Integrated Care Systems