Welcome to your new integrated Healthcare service

Dear reader. In 2005 the Health minister Jeremy Hunt co-authored a policy book calling for the NHS to be 'denationalised' [privatised] and replaced with a health insurance system. Due to rapidly increasing demands placed on the NHS, this new 'Accountable Care' system was put in place on the 4th December 2021.

This could not have been possible without the help and experience of Sir Simon Stevens, the ex vice president of the largest private health insurer in the United states, UnitedHealth. Mr Hunt appointed Mr Stevens as Chief of the NHS in 2014. Mr Stevens' experience of working on the U.S. Medicare scheme has enabled the NHS to take better rein of out of control finances and reduce hospital stays bringing more integrated partnership working into the NHS.

The letter shown below is a typical explanatory note to a fictitious Mrs Smith. It explains the co-payment system only. There are other expenses, for these see the link at the end of this page. Welcome to your new NHS......

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Date: 31.03.2022





Dear Mrs Smith
Thank you for choosing Chorley & South Ribble Integrated Care Partnership as your preferred Healthcare provider. Please see below an information leaflet regarding part of your healthcare plan.

NHS Co-payments

A 'co-payment' is a fixed amount of money you pay for a certain health & social care service. The NHS pays the rest of the cost. Co-payments are worked out in percentages.

The 'Accountable Care Organisation' (ACO) currently operating in your area is C&SRP (Chorley & South Ribble Partnership). Your ACO 'Advantage' plan supplements the costs of NHS treatment and medicines (except prescriptions which are charged at the full cost, which is currently £10.80 per item).

The co-payment system is operated by your regional NHS Clinical Commissioning Group who along with your healthcare providers, are partners in the Accountable Care Organisation (ACO) for your area.

Your ACO uses co-payments for most Healthcare services. You make a co-payment of 20% for most services provided by your ACO healthcare provider system.

Here's an example of how co-payments work with your ACO 'Advantage' plan.

Note: The example shown above is from the actual Medicare webpage with $dollars converted to British £pounds.

The average Hospital charge for a total knee replacement (TKR) in the United States is $49,500. A partial knee replacement (PKR) typically costs about 10 to 20 percent less than a TKR. The main reason is that the operation requires a shorter hospital stay. For example: an average of 2.3 days, compared to 3.4 days. [23rd Feb 2015]

How do copays, coinsurance and deductibles work with Medicare plans?

http://www.bcbsm.com/medicare/help/faqs/works/copays-coinsurance-deductibles.html