Forum Topic

Reform

Has anybody else heard that they want you to pay for your Health Insurance if they get in. Thought we paid all the time we worked. I also paid HSA.

Barbara Stevens ● 11h15 Comments

No, old people don't normally get free chiropody although sometimes they can find reduced price chiropody when a group can get together to get their feet done.  A group like Age UK might be able to organise this.  I found this particularly unhelpful when my MIL was in hospital and recovering and getting help with walking again after a fall and broken ankle.  Comfortable feet are rather an important part of this but I found it impossible to get it done by the hospital - or find someone to go the hospital!One of the biggest problems is the lack of care provision, care workers and the time that care packages can take to be written. People end up in hospital for longer than is necessary.

Philippa Bond ● 1h

Hi Ivonne, thanks for butting in, I don’t want to talk to myself! I am pleased the lady you know has been referred to a specialist.  It took a while for my mum to get referred to a specialist for a hip replacement, too.  After I mentioned this in above post, I realised it was 2006 she had the op.  Time flies.   It all went really well and Epsom Hospital were excellent. We paid for a chiropodist for her  just for the convenience of having a fixed appointment, but don’t older people get this free?  We don’t use chiropody services, so I don’t know.   I thought chiropody services when my mum went into a carehome were awful, really disgusting.  It wasn’t the actual service provided, it was the length of time between appointments.  In the end I paid for a chiropodist to visit the Carehome. As regards the NHS slowly being privatised, I would like to see time wasters being charged.  I read that, for example, people turn up at A&E who just want a sticking plaster.  Pathetic!  Also are this Labour government going to stop this slow privatisation?

Martine Guy ● 2h

Hello Martine,Apologies for butting in!  Sadly, I think the NHS is being slowly privatised through the back door....  As an example, a lady that I know needs a double-hip replacement.  She is in incredible pain.  Fortunately, she was (finally!) referred to a specialist in Kingston Hospital who placed her in the urgent list! But, she has problems trying to do her toe nails as she cannot bend down. She was referred to podiatry who rejected her referral and told her to go privately.  She does not fall within the three categories of patients they see:  amputees, people with diabetes or who have suffered strokes.  The Nhs needs reorganizing and I suggest it starts with drastically reducing admin staff. Great savings will be found there!

Ivonne Holliday ● 3h

David, what is it you want?  “Good luck with that shake up” you say, but people are dying on hospital trolleys.  What do you suggest for improving the NHS?  Let’s hear what you think should be done, please.
Going back to Barbara’s original post, I do not think Reform or anyone else will ever privatise the NHS.  It would be political suicide.

Martine Guy ● 5h

And I’d like to add that we in SW London are lucky to have fantastic top rate hospitals on our doorstep in Central London eg Chelsea  and Westminster, Guys and St Thomas’s, The Brompton and Royal Marsden.  Add in St George’s, Kingston, West Middlesex and Roehampton in the outer area.  My mum was even able to have her hip replacement at the excellent specialist unit at Epsom. This may not be the case in other parts of the country and I think you need to bear that in mind.  The NHS should not be above criticism or reorganisation.  

Martine Guy ● 7h

If there are challenges making cutbacks, then Councils need to be open about it and say where the problems are and why they can’t make the cutbacks. Ì think people want to know where there are problems in the NHS and whether they can be rectified.

Martine Guy ● 8h

Good luck with that "shake-up"."Reform UK-controlled councils have faced significant challenges in finding substantial waste to cut and have generally not been able to deliver on their central promise of lowering council tax. Instead, most have proposed or implemented council tax increases, and critics argue the savings found so far are minor compared to overall budgets."

David Ainsworth ● 8h

If Reform want a shake up of the NHS, I am all for it.  My family has used it a lot in recent years and we have had really good experiences, ie maternity care and children’s A&E; mixed experiences, ie orthopaedics and cardio and this was because of the waiting, not the treatment;  and absolutely awful, ie mental health services for the elderly. I have never heard my friends or family abroad say they envy us the NHS.  It needs a complete overhaul, imo, to make sure our money is being used correctly and that the system isn’t being abused.

Martine Guy ● 8h

I'm happy to support Reform on this one, I totally agree we want to keep services free at the point of use and we don't want to be in a situation where a percentage of the population have no access to healthcare.But that doesn't mean we can't look at other countries to see what is working well elsewhere - it seems a perfectly sensible policy to me.I'm not sure I understand the reference to net zero in regard to the NHS.

Michael Brigo ● 8h

MB has more or less summed it up which I applaud because he is obviously taking note of what the Party’s policies are.  Essentially Reform will shake-up the current NHS model by reorganising how healthcare is provided and accessed, and most importantly its own DOGE (Dependent of Government Efficiency) headed by Zia Yusuf, will identify and cut wasteful spending, particularly on procurement and pointless net zero projects.There has been a lot of scaremongering about Reform and the NHS, most of it by  Labour, and from Neil Kinnock in particular.  Full Fact is generally considered to be unbiased and its report published in April 2025 is below:Is Labour right to claim Reform UK would"scrap the NHS'? - Full Facthttps://fullfact.org/health/reform-nigel-farage-pay-for-nhs-labour/

Sue Hammond ● 9h

My partner is French. Yes in many cases they do pay upfront but by no means not all. Unlike the NHS they get appointments with their GP on the same day or within 24 hours; blood test results are available on the same day, x-xrays and scans don't take weeks to take place, dental care is covered. Have never heard of anyone waiting hours for an ambulance nor are patients treated in hospital corridors. They pay in more than we do but the service is far superior to the NHS which used to be the envy of the world.

Lucille Grant ● 9h

We all have friends in Europe who can tell us of their experiences with health insurance schemes.Last time I asked a friend in France how it worked, I was told people have to pay up front and reclaim it afterwards. I asked what happens if they don't have the money to pay upfront and was told they just don't seek medical help. Granted that was some years back but I don't think much has changed.The NHS is the envy of the world and we should cling on to it with every inch of our being.

Katrina Black ● 10h

It certainly something that Mr Farage has proposed. I've not followed it closely but I  think he's modified his suggestion from a US style insurance to one of the European models but I've not followed it in detail. I'm sue Sue has listened to all the Reform missives and can inform us.

Michael Ixer ● 10h

Hello Barbara,No, I have not heard about this but it would not surprise me in the least.  It is an idea based on the American system and it was floated sometime ago by the conservatives too.  The Health Insurance is an insurance you take out - quite similar to private schemes.....

Ivonne Holliday ● 11h

I think Reform have always been pretty clear that they don't believe the current funding method for the NHS is sustainable. That doesn't mean we have to move to a system like the US. European countries have better healthcare than the UK and I think they run as a sort of mixed public/private model.I imagine someone else on here will know far more about it than me.

Michael Brigo ● 11h