Many people remain committed to the NHS, I believe, because they think "if I get seriously ill at any time in my life, I will be looked after and it will be free". In their hearts, they may think the care may not be great, but at least they will get some care and it will be free.
But this is simply not true. Last night on Panorama there were graphic portraits of people who had believed this. But then they had got severe Alzheimer's Disease or had endured disabling strokes or had been knocked down by a car and become totally paralysed. They were treated, for a while, as patients in NHS beds - for free. But then they were shunted out into private nursing homes and told that they would have to sell their homes and pay for their care.
In theory, the government pays for medical care by not for 'social care'. In the Coughlan case, the Appeal Court upheld this distinction and insisted that the government should pay for someone with medical problems. But the programme eloquently argued that, in practice, the NHS ignores the Coughlan judgement and in many cases goes to great lengths to categorise people as being in need of social care, rather than primarily medical care.
In other words, the NHS shuffles off responsibility for paying for people who have become totally dependant on the help of others. It says, "you pay for it, we won't".
The NHS - and the government as a whole - offer the myth that you will be looked after, for free, if you become disabled for the long term. For many people, it is simply not true.
The welfare state has created an insurance policy that does not provide what it claims. It is another welfare state mis-selling scandal. It would be better if the welfare state were honest about it from the start - if it said, "We will not provide. Take out proper insurance because this is not it. Rely on us and you could lose your home."
"We are an accident and emergency service. We don't do long-term care." But such honesty is not a part of the welfare state. Perhaps it is just not a part of democracy as it has developed in Britain in recent years.
One of the more telling clips in the film was a fresh-faced Tony Blair boldly declaring in 1997 that he did not want a Britain in which old people needing care had to sell their homes. Well, that is precisely what, after nine years of his rule, we have got. It was all blather and lies. It was aspirational and wholly misleading. The programme could have made a lot more of that if it had wanted to. It could have repeated that clip after every case of a disabled person whose home had been sold. It would, quite justifiably, have highlighted the chasm between what Mr Blair has said and what has actually happened. It would emphasise the failure of his administration in connection with the elderly.
I feel that the distinction between medical and social care is anyway absurd. If someone cannot look after himself or herself and needs a lot of help, that is the overriding fact. If you were buying an insurance policy against that eventuality of needing care, you would not choose a policy that only paid out if someone arbitrarily decided that your problems were primarily 'medical' not 'social'.
It was refreshing, incidentally, to have a serious BBC programme pointing out a gross deficiency in the welfare state and in the NHS as run by this government. It made a very welcome change from the regular failure of the BBC flagship Today programme to do anything of the sort.
Here are some of the cases highlighted by Panorama. The reporter was Vivian White who did an excellent job.
Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in Care for the elderly • Media, including BBC bias • NHS
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If I was in this situation, I'd sell the house and tell my family to fly to vegas and put it on a roulette table.
If I lose, I've lost nothing. I'll still get treated. If I win, I might have some left over to pay for my treatment.
Posted by: Tim Almond at March 14, 2006 11:53 AM
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Yes, this is one of Gordon's most insidious stealth taxes. Most people who end up in this situation are not able to fight it. And the decision as whether or not it is a social problem is made not by doctors but by social workers. Who have a budget to protect.
John
Posted by: Dr John Crippen at March 9, 2006 09:49 PM