When it comes to private healthcare, young people are revealing a welcome preference for choice
One of the most revealing moments in Labour’s policy-lite election campaign was when Keir Starmer insisted he would never use private healthcare for himself or a family member. For the Labour leader, the NHS is a matter of identity upon which practical concerns, such as whether or not a relative might live or die on a waiting list, must not impinge. It’s a position that’s of a piece with Nigel Lawson’s contention that the health service has become “the closest thing the English people have to a religion” – but it could be one that puts the government at odds with a generation that’s increasingly losing the faith.
Almost half of people in their 20s and 30s say they would go private for healthcare if they needed it in the next 12 months, according to a survey from the Independent Healthcare Providers Network. Of those who had used private healthcare, 42 per cent said they did not even consider using the NHS first, with many citing the need to be seen quickly as their primary reason for paying.
You do not have to be an unapologetic free marketeer to regard this as a very good thing. With more than six million people languishing on the waiting list, those who can afford it should be encouraged to relieve the pressure wherever they can – especially if they are young and their condition is easy to treat. Those who choose to go private essentially provide a triple benefit to the economy – paying for healthcare out of both their taxes and their pockets while also reducing demand on the public sector. As the health secretary himself has said: “people who say we shouldn’t use the private sector to cut waiting lists will have to be honest about the fact that they’re telling people who can’t afford to go private that their leftwing principles say they should be waiting longer.”
There are those who fear that private sector involvement will undermine the principle of a universal healthcare system that’s free at the point of use, but feelings do not trump facts. Social health insurance systems like those in Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Israel all combine a universal offering with consumer sovereignty, innovation and – crucially – better outcomes.
Liturgical mythologising about the NHS has too often got in the way of honest discussions about its failings. Starmer may still be a true believer, but young people are revealing a welcome preference for choice.