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A Tory MEP has warned Americans against copying the NHS and called instead for a system of personal health accounts to deliver better healthcare.
Daniel Hannan renewed his criticisms of the NHS as Barack Obama's own reforms faced sustained opposition in the US media and at "town hall" meetings. The President's healthcare plans are seen as one factor in his popularity ratings dipping to 50 per cent for the first time since he took office.
Yesterday he hit back at critics, claiming they were trying to "scare the heck" out of the elderly and alleging that "special interests" among US insurance firms were leading the opposition.
Mr Obama pledged during his election campaign to devise a new tax-funded system to extend free healthcare to those not covered by the safety net of the government's Medicare and Medicaid. But Republicans have seized on the issue and Mr Hannan - already a darling of the US Right for his YouTube attack on Gordon Brown - has appeared on American TV channels to warn against repeating the experience of the NHS.
Mr Hannan used a speech in Washington to claim that the service was a "Marxist system" and warned Americans to "ponder our example and tremble". He also told Fox News that "you would much rather fall ill in the US". Writing on his blog today, Mr Hannan defended his remarks, pointing out that he wanted to "replace the current government monopoly in healthcare with a Singapore-style system of personal health accounts".
He disagreed with David Cameron over his refusal to radically reform the NHS.
"It seems increasingly obvious that American voters are turning against Barack Obama's plans...British-style state-administered hospitals - that plainly ain't gonna happen. Which raises the intriguing question of whether Britain would establish the NHS today," he wrote.
Former deputy prime minister John Prescott said Mr Hannan's remarks showed "the mask is slipping and Dan Hannan is the true face of 'caring Conservatism'."
Reader views (5)
Ironically one of the biggest wastes of money, and I am talking many millions, has been an American computer system for the NHS. Way over time and way over budget.
- Frank, Home Counties, England.
Press on Mr President... God bless Paul xx
- Paul, Bromley
The NHS has fallen into the Nu Labor disrepair. It needs urgent fixing here. Conservatives I think will talk and manage less and let doctors and nurses get on with business. We need less political correctness not more. America has it own issues but surely they should not follow us down the bad route.
- Georgie, Islington, London
No no and no. The NHS is overly bureaucratic, as are all areas of government and that should be addressed as a seperate issue. The reality is that I know that if I become ill, or have an accident I'll be taken to a hospital and hopefully fixed. Under the American system you may be fixed in a lovely hospital, but there's a real chance you'll come out bankrupt. Let's keep this in perspective, American health insurance companies have recently admitted that staff are paid bonuses for cancelling policies of ill people. The policies themselves are designed to give the companies as many get outs as possible. The result is thousands of people made bankrupt when they thought they were adequately covered and had paid tens if not hundreds of thousands into their policies over the years.
Oh and Mark, do you really want competition and choice? I'd rather not have to worry about league tables when I'm in the back of an ambulance, I'd rather a uniform level of care was provided at the best level possible.
- Ian, london
Daniel Hannan made these remarks months ago, have you just head about it? I think he has a very good point. Monopoly provision of healthcare is not working. The NHS is badly run and overly bureaucratic. Letting private companies bid for public health money with decent government oversight is a much better option. It would introduce real competition and choice.
- Mark, London
