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The Government are now using Covid-19 as an excuse to introduce charging for public healthcare services – their so-called ‘Operation Moonshot’ Covid-19 mass testing programme, which currently does not exist!
In making the announcement during an online meeting arranged by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Dido Harding the head of Serco’s Test and Trace failing system erroneously called NHS Test and Trace; told the business leaders attending that not all Covid-19 tests will be available for free!
 People with Covid-19 symptoms will have to pay if they wanted the future ‘Moonshot’ tests and those who needed to show that they are not a risk to others and can therefore carry on a normal life.
She said: “For that sort of test that may be a normal cost of doing business to be able to have non-socially distanced activities, but that’s different than for symptomatic people who should always feel like they can come to an NHS service,"
It is easy to see how employers will put pressure on workers to pay for these tests themselves in order to be able to get back to their workplaces.
Furthermore, there is no doubt that this announcement is part of the Government’s plan for ALL NHS services to be chargeable, along with their changing all NHS CCGs into Accountable Care Organisations (ACO) ready for the completion of Trade Talks with the USA which will allow American healthcare companies into the NHS.
The full conversion of the re-organised ‘National Health Service into one of separate and autonomous ‘Regional’ ACOs aka Integrated Care Organisations, to use the Government’s preferred name for the adoption of the American system.
If there is no public outcry against this plan to charge for Covid-19 testing, the Government will see this as a sign that there will be little objection by the public to steadily introduce charging across the whole of the healthcare system via medical insurance as in the USA.
People with no corona virus symptoms will have to pay for 'Operation Moonshot' tests, the head of the government's testing programme has said.
Reporting on this, The Independent newspaper said that health experts have warned that the mass testing programme - which aims to provide ten million tests a day at a cost of £100bn - is “not feasible” and poses a “massive gamble”.
Furthermore, the article quotes The Department of Health and Social Care saying that the new tests would be available for free "for those who need it". But a spokesperson for the department confirmed that other options were being explored:
"Deploying the next generation of tests, which may reduce the need for social distancing in specific circumstances, will require a collaboration between businesses, Government and the NHS."
In a weak response to Dido Harding’s plans Labour's shadow minister for public health said that Ms Harding's comments suggested the programme risked creating a "two-tier pay-to-hug' system.
Alex Norris MP said:
“Instead of threatening to charge people for corona virus tests, the government should be focused on fixing the system. The current testing fiasco will not be sorted by creating a two-tier ‘pay-to-hug’ system for families across the country.”
Source: The Independent
See also: NHS To Be Replaced By Regional Integrated Care Organisations From April 2021
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