NIGEL Farage has said that the NHS should not be fully publicly funded.
The comment comes as voters go to the polls for the local elections in England.
The Reform UK leader has previously referred to the way the French healthcare system works, which is funded through a mixture of public funding and private insurance.
In a Sky News interview yesterday evening, political editor Beth Rigby said: “The French have a statutory health system levied from a mix of contributions from earned income and unearned income. There’s central government funding and a little bit of top-up fee. That’s what’s allowed Labour to levy this charge at you.”
Farage then replied: “Well if Labour are upset that the rich might have to pay for healthcare, I find that a very odd position for them to be in.”
Rigby then said: “Just to be clear, do you want it to be still funded through general taxation or do you think we need to look at the funding model?”
Farage said: “I do not want it funded through general taxation. It’s doesn’t work. It’s not working. We’re getting worse bang for the buck from than any other country, particularly out of those European neighbours.
“I want it free at the point of delivery, but it’s how we get there.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, meanwhile, condemned the comments.
He said: “Nigel Farage has said the quiet part out loud: he doesn’t want a publicly funded NHS.
“With Farage’s plans to leave people paying over a grand for an A&E trip only one thing is clear – patients would be worse off under Reform.”
SNP MSP Clare Haughey said: “With Nigel Farage openly proclaiming that the NHS should not be publicly funded and the UK Labour Government ‘holding the door open’ to more private healthcare involvement, it is clear that only the SNP can be trusted to stand up for the NHS.
“Under John Swinney’s leadership, the SNP has made investment in public services, including the NHS, a top priority with record levels of investment delivered in the recent Scottish budget.
“The SNP will always stand by the founding principles of the NHS, keeping it free at the point of delivery and where it belongs, in public hands.
“While other parties shift to the right to pander to the politics of Reform - with Anas Sarwar talking about working with them as he desperately attempts to get a whiff of power - the SNP will always stand up to Nigel Farage’s toxic agenda.”
Scottish Greens health spokesperson Gillian Mackay, meanwhile, said the plans would "cost lives".
“Nigel Farage is a millionaire who has no problem funding his own healthcare, but he wants to push these dire plans to punish the least well off in society, the families and communities most likely to need crucial healthcare," she said.
“Healthcare must always be accessible and free for everyone. We have that right now in Scotland, and any suggestion to introduce private insurance is a blatantly obvious attempt to Americanise our healthcare system."
The MSP added: “I have no doubt that these proposals from Farage would cost lives. Charging patients to access healthcare will have tragic consequences for those who need healthcare the most.
“Our NHS needs help to deal with the disastrous staffing crisis caused by the withdrawal from the EU – which Scotland didn’t vote for – and recovery from one of the worst health crises in centuries. This kind of political distraction isn't going to help the nurses, doctors and patients; it simply drives profit from ill health."
