Merkel worries we will work alongside China & USA and become competitive

[Nick]

With American health insurance lining up to take over the NHS it is the important issue.

No point in debating if your just going to throw hysterical nonsense into the mix. Show me one single thread of EVIDENCE that shows where the NHS is going to become an arm of an American insurance company.

[papasmurf]

Where did I ever mention the word prescription?

With American health insurance lining up to take over the NHS it is the important issue.

[Nick]

Those are not prescription drugs.

Where did I ever mention the word prescription?



But I guarantee you I can get Ibruprofen on prescription if I wanted to.

[papasmurf]

https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=ibroprophen&typeahead=ibr">https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=i ... eahead=ibr">https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=ibroprophen&typeahead=ibr



The equivalent price in Sainsbury's is £70 for 500 tablets. Almost 15 times more expensive.

Those are not prescription drugs.

[Nick]

Evidence for that please. Because the opposite appears to be the case



https://www.ft.com/content/e92dbf94-d9a2-11e9-8f9b-77216ebe1f17">https://www.ft.com/content/e92dbf94-d9a ... 216ebe1f17">https://www.ft.com/content/e92dbf94-d9a2-11e9-8f9b-77216ebe1f17

https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=ibroprophen&typeahead=ibr">https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=i ... eahead=ibr">https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=ibroprophen&typeahead=ibr



The equivalent price in Sainsbury's is £70 for 500 tablets. Almost 15 times more expensive.

[Barry]

Quality of care suffers under privitisation and this will not only see privitisation of NHS services accelerated but make it very difficult to reverse if it forms part of a trade deal. Furthermore US companies will likely be able to sue like My Branson did succesfully.



Privitisation also goes against patient interests because money that should be going into patient care is instead spent on marketing or siphoned off as profit.



Why would drug costs go down?

Richard Branson did apparently sue the NHS, of which I was unaware until I read this post. However, it is a flawed outsourcing process that opened up the NHS to be sued, and was nothing to do with worldwide markets, was it? If the NHS had not awarded contracts incorrectly it would not have been open to litigation.

Having said all that, I don't like privatisation in the NHS, I'd kick out Interserve for a start.

[papasmurf]

I guess you've never lived in the States where the price of drugs is a quarter of what we pay.

Evidence for that please. Because the opposite appears to be the case



https://www.ft.com/content/e92dbf94-d9a2-11e9-8f9b-77216ebe1f17">https://www.ft.com/content/e92dbf94-d9a ... 216ebe1f17">https://www.ft.com/content/e92dbf94-d9a2-11e9-8f9b-77216ebe1f17

[Nick]

Quality of care suffers under privitisation and this will not only see privitisation of NHS services accelerated but make it very difficult to reverse if it forms part of a trade deal. Furthermore US companies will likely be able to sue like My Branson did succesfully.



Privitisation also goes against patient interests because money that should be going into patient care is instead spent on marketing or siphoned off as profit.



Why would drug costs go down?

I guess you've never lived in the States where the price of drugs is a quarter of what we pay. The only way the US would get a contract would be to undercut the opposition which they could do blindfolded on drugs.



We already have foreign countries supplying to the NHS, French supplying electricity. But everyone jumps up and down because Trump is in power at the time. He wasn't the one threatening that we would be at the back of the queue!

[papasmurf]

Trump is an isolationist when it come to trade.

What Britain could sell to China except for a few niche products I would like to know.

[Ciaphas]

Cause it would be a real shame if Branson lost the contract and we got drugs supplied at half the price we pay now.

Quality of care suffers under privitisation and this will not only see privitisation of NHS services accelerated but make it very difficult to reverse if it forms part of a trade deal. Furthermore US companies will likely be able to sue like My Branson did succesfully.



Privitisation also goes against patient interests because money that should be going into patient care is instead spent on marketing or siphoned off as profit.



Why would drug costs go down?

[Nick]

It means they can tender for NHS service contracts.

Cause it would be a real shame if Branson lost the contract and we got drugs supplied at half the price we pay now.

[Ciaphas]

Explain what access to the NHS means.

It means they can tender for NHS service contracts.

[Nick]

The UK will likely find itself caught up in the middle of the US/China trade war. Negotiating trade deals with two opposing sides will be extremely tricky.



The US and China will also want reduced regulations and access to the likes of the NHS.

Explain what access to the NHS means.

[Ciaphas]

The UK will likely find itself caught up in the middle of the US/China trade war. Negotiating trade deals with two opposing sides will be extremely tricky.



The US and China will also want reduced regulations and access to the likes of the NHS.

[Baron von Lotsov]

ref here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeermO1kjfs">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeermO1kjfs

5.00





So after all I've been saying about the wonderful business opportunities China would be willing to engage in us with so we build better faster and cheaper, it has finally become a nightmare for Merkel. And I might add, so it bloody well should. China is dead keen to do business with us, not just because we have technology they don't and they have manufacturing capability we don't, but it's kind of like they feel comfortable with us. Obviously they are wary of the USA but we have been acting somewhat independently. USA applied trade sanctions, we refused. Chinese leaders see that as friendship. May got the full reception when she did her official state visit and Cameron and Osborne, since leaving office, have been working to increase UK-Chinese trade. They are working to see if we can join the BRI. I mean we are talking about boosting the economy to a serious extent. This is why Merkel is worried.



Personally I look at Germany and i see they do good products at a competitive price. I'd place them as survivors myself if they do not get dragged down by the losses of the wider EU. It does not say much of the prospects of less competitive countries. Spain and Italy are a bit fragile even now.



Anyway, amidst the chaos of it all, there's a ray of sunshine for you. It's all about holding your nerve.