Jan 27 2025 9 mins
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Reform UK's leader Nigel Farage says he is "open to anything" when it comes to replacing Britain's NHS with "an insurance-based model".
The Clacton MP told LBC on Sunday the French healthcare system could be a model for Britain's NHS, appearing to back a move "where you pay in to effectively an insurance scheme."
It is the latest in a series of comments on the health service which put him at odds with the British public, despite Reform UK's recent climb in the polls.
Reform UK's 2024 manifesto - or "contract" - called for tax relief of 20% on all private healthcare and insurance, effectively a state handout to those with the broadest shoulders. It pledged to use more independent (i.e. private) healthcare capacity, paid for by the NHS.
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In May last year, Farage also became "Co-founder and Chairman" of a company called 'Action on World Health LLP', which wants to "reform or replace the World Health Organization" - the international body which helped coordinate responses to the Covid pandemic. One of its directors is also a director of a consultancy which advises, among other sectors, health care firms - "particularly mental and behavioral health".
Labour now looks set to make Reform UK's stance on the NHS a key attack line.
Responding to Farage's LBC comments, Health Secretary Wes Streeting MP said: "We have it straight from the horse's mouth: Nigel Farage says he is "open to anything" when it comes to replacing Britain's NHS with an insurance-based model.
"With Reform, our NHS would be reduced to a poor service for poor people, with working people forced to pay to go private. Labour will rebuild our NHS so that it is there for everyone who needs it and, whenever you're ill, you never have to worry about the bill.
"Farage has been pushing healthcare charges to his supporters in private for over a decade saying, "I think we are going to have to move to an insurance-based system of healthcare". Now he's going public, proposing that "if you can afford it, you pay".
EXCLUSIVE
MPs Cashed in More Than £1 Million From GB News and Other Media and Speaking Gigs Last Year
New analysis by Byline Times reveals the scale of earnings being raked in by Members of Parliament on top of their £91,346 salaries.
Max Colbert
He added: "Every single voter considering Reform needs to ask themselves if they could afford to pay for health insurance like patients have to elsewhere?
"There are elections in just three months' time. Voters deserve straight talking from Reform about their plans to move to health insurance."
The health secretary has reiterated his support for using private healthcare providers to reduce NHS waiting lists, while emphasizing they must contribute meaningfully without depleting NHS resources.
Wes Streeting himself has come under fire from NHS campaigners recently after the Government announced plans this month for private hospitals to deliver up to one million additional appointments, scans and operations annually for NHS patients in England. It is part of a plan to reduce backlogs in the health service.
Streeting has described his approach as "entirely pragmatic" and claimed practical solutions should take precedence over "ideology".
He had previously claimed some critics of his plans were "middle-class lefties" prioritising ideological purity over patient care.
Co-Chair of Keep Our NHS Public and retired Consultant Paediatrician, Dr John Puntis told Byline Times: "Mr Farage would do well to read Lord Darzi's recent report stating clearly that: 'Nothing that I have found draws into question the principles of a health service...
To support its work, subscribe to the monthly Byline Times print edition, packed with exclusive investigations, news, and analysis.
Help us build the better media Britain deserves
Reform UK's leader Nigel Farage says he is "open to anything" when it comes to replacing Britain's NHS with "an insurance-based model".
The Clacton MP told LBC on Sunday the French healthcare system could be a model for Britain's NHS, appearing to back a move "where you pay in to effectively an insurance scheme."
It is the latest in a series of comments on the health service which put him at odds with the British public, despite Reform UK's recent climb in the polls.
Reform UK's 2024 manifesto - or "contract" - called for tax relief of 20% on all private healthcare and insurance, effectively a state handout to those with the broadest shoulders. It pledged to use more independent (i.e. private) healthcare capacity, paid for by the NHS.
Don't miss a story
SIGN UP TO EMAIL UPDATES
In May last year, Farage also became "Co-founder and Chairman" of a company called 'Action on World Health LLP', which wants to "reform or replace the World Health Organization" - the international body which helped coordinate responses to the Covid pandemic. One of its directors is also a director of a consultancy which advises, among other sectors, health care firms - "particularly mental and behavioral health".
Labour now looks set to make Reform UK's stance on the NHS a key attack line.
Responding to Farage's LBC comments, Health Secretary Wes Streeting MP said: "We have it straight from the horse's mouth: Nigel Farage says he is "open to anything" when it comes to replacing Britain's NHS with an insurance-based model.
"With Reform, our NHS would be reduced to a poor service for poor people, with working people forced to pay to go private. Labour will rebuild our NHS so that it is there for everyone who needs it and, whenever you're ill, you never have to worry about the bill.
"Farage has been pushing healthcare charges to his supporters in private for over a decade saying, "I think we are going to have to move to an insurance-based system of healthcare". Now he's going public, proposing that "if you can afford it, you pay".
EXCLUSIVE
MPs Cashed in More Than £1 Million From GB News and Other Media and Speaking Gigs Last Year
New analysis by Byline Times reveals the scale of earnings being raked in by Members of Parliament on top of their £91,346 salaries.
Max Colbert
He added: "Every single voter considering Reform needs to ask themselves if they could afford to pay for health insurance like patients have to elsewhere?
"There are elections in just three months' time. Voters deserve straight talking from Reform about their plans to move to health insurance."
The health secretary has reiterated his support for using private healthcare providers to reduce NHS waiting lists, while emphasizing they must contribute meaningfully without depleting NHS resources.
Wes Streeting himself has come under fire from NHS campaigners recently after the Government announced plans this month for private hospitals to deliver up to one million additional appointments, scans and operations annually for NHS patients in England. It is part of a plan to reduce backlogs in the health service.
Streeting has described his approach as "entirely pragmatic" and claimed practical solutions should take precedence over "ideology".
He had previously claimed some critics of his plans were "middle-class lefties" prioritising ideological purity over patient care.
Co-Chair of Keep Our NHS Public and retired Consultant Paediatrician, Dr John Puntis told Byline Times: "Mr Farage would do well to read Lord Darzi's recent report stating clearly that: 'Nothing that I have found draws into question the principles of a health service...