Start a correspondence with your MP about NHS privatisation

 Following on from the previous post about the evidence for NHS privatisation which ends with urging people to start a correspondence with their MP asking them to work halt and reverse privatisation of the NHS, I post below a first letter to copy, amend (MPs respond better to individualised letters) and post. You can also use this excellent website, They Work For You, to email the MP, which is helpful because it follows up on the letter to find whether the MP replies. 

The idea is to start a real correspondence, not just send one letter. Insist that they answer the questions clearly and give their honest views. If they put up counter-arguments, and you don't know how to answer, post them back here in the comments, and we will find  and supply the answers.

It helps to form a local letter-writing group, and also to visit your MP individually or in groups.

It is a good idea for your group to conduct opinion polls of people in the constituency, so that you can give the MP information about the proportion of constituents who oppose the privatisation of the NHS. I will put more info about this tactic up here in subsequent posts.

Spread the word, and good luck.

[Your address] 

…. MP

House of Commons

London SW1A 0AA

 Dear...

The NHS, which provides health care free of charge at the time of need is, as you know, very much appreciated and valued by British people, and is rightly a source of national pride. Yet since 1987 it has been the subject of an extensive series of changes designed to make it possible to sell off sections of the service. It has suffered greatly from under-funding, yet there has also been a marked increase the amount of taxpayers’ money flowing into private health care corporations. There is no reasonable doubt that the intent is to abolish the model of an NHS paid out of general taxation, and to bring in some form of insurance based, private health care model.

One thing is clear: private health care is more expensive than the universal service.  The costs of invoicing for every item used, every action carried out, the cost of administration, and the constant leaching of money to shareholders, are far greater than in the NHS model.

What I seek, as your constituent, is to clarify your position on the NHS by getting answers to the following questions:

1.      Do you accept that private health care delivery is more expensive than the NHS model?

2.      Do you unequivocally support the idea of an NHS funded out of general taxation?

Thank you for your trouble in answering these questions.

With best wishes

 .......