I wouldn't mind betting that £20 to see the quack would make all the hypochondriacs think twice, along with those who can't be arsed to turn up for their appointments. I'd be all for it. 
Excellent idea, when somebody is too ill to work, struggling to pay their bills, hit them where it hurts with treatment fees, so they can't afford the treatment they need, don't get better, don't go back to work and don't become a productive member of society again. If you want to see where this works so well, check out the US system where millions have no access to their health system and 1 in 3 working age males are unemployed and no longer looking for work. Over 60% of this is due to their unresolved health issues.
The NHS is a poor system compared to France and other continental countries, but the European system works much better than in the US and Singapore with their pay-as-you-go system, where it is free at the point of access when you need it. This is the concept of insurance, where we all pay in and have access to it when we need it and is also one of the several reasons average European quality of life is much better than the US. No cover for pre-existing medical conditions is a major issue in the US where you can't get cover for existing conditions if you change job and insurer and likewise whatever the premium you can't switch to a cheaper insurer and keep the current cover for your pre-existing conditions.
People that abuse the NHS system with missed appointments, fine them with payment made before they can make another appointment. Likewise, have other fixed fees like where hospitals are used as a Friday / Saturday night drunk recovery facilities.
The problem society has is our pay-as-you-earn pension and health systems mean that where this is the most expensive time-of-life in terms of Government costs you are no longer working (the second most expensive is childhood), and as more and more old people are surviving and with a smaller and smaller workforce to support them.
The answer to resolving this is actually technology where many new treatments are becoming available which will extend our lives and healthy life period significantly, but we are all going to have to work until we are much older. In the next 20 years, I expect the retirement age rise rapidly to be 80+
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Topic: Theresa or Jeremy? (Read 48150 times)