Reform UK’s private health insurance plan would cost £1.7bn, Streeting to say

Key Highlights

• The party claimed in its manifesto that this would improve the general standard of care by reducing demands on the NHS. Its leader, Nigel Farage, appeared to double down on this commitment at a press conference last summer, saying: “Perhaps if we gave people a bit of tax relief on paying for private health care, we might just relieve the pressure off the National Health Service.”Civil servants at the Department of Health and Social Care calculated the potential cost of the Reform policy using data from the healthcare consultancy LaingBuisson, which says that the UK private healthcare market is worth about £8.6bn. Streeting is due to speak at the central London event on Saturday afternoon, with the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, and Labour’s deputy leader, Lucy Powell, also scheduled to attend. It is expected the health secretary will tell delegates that the NHS will be a major focus for Labour in campaigns for May’s local elections, where Reform is predicted to make significant gains.“Farage says he wants an insurance-based system of healthcare,” Streeting will say.
• “Just last year, he rejected the public funding model that survived since 1948, saying: ‘I do not want it funded through general taxation.
• It does not work.’“And if you don’t believe his words, look at his actions.
• Reform is committed to spending £1.7bn, not on staff, buildings, or technology, but on tax relief for customers of private healthcare.
• “This tax cut for the wealthiest would be the first step on the road to Farage’s insurance system.