£20 is not too much to see a doctor

Jul 23 2009 By Maureen Messent

TWO linked diktats have caused outrage.

On the one hand, we’re told, failed asylum seekers are to be treated free by the NHS while, on the other – and this comes from the influential think-tank Social Market Foundation – home-grown NHS patients could pay £20 to see a doctor.

Sounds outrageous, does it, but what’s the alternative?

Our open borders have meant a superfluity of newcomers who, were they to become sick, couldn’t be allowed to languish and die untreated. We are not, after all, a Third World country.

And is that £20 fee for the waged below pensionable age such a bad idea? I’m shocked by the numbers of white Britons who think it reasonable to visit their doctors with colds, coughs, minor aches and pains that could be treated at a pharmacist’s recommendation.

We are living longer. Medical advances mean that conditions, once shrugged off as the inevitable results of age, are now treated.

Taxpayers’ cash simply doesn’t meet demand.

If you can afford a family holiday, Christmas presents, rounds at the pub and modern clothing, then surely to God you can afford the far further-reaching contribution of £20 to see your doctor.

Our priorities are askew.