Health policy - the Conservative approach

Judging by his recent statement on health, it is easy to see why David Cameron avoided too many hard policy commitments during his election campaign.

Cameron has ditched all the main promises from the 2005 election manifesto. Instead of encouraging private medical insurance, he has declared himself firmly in favour of an NHS free at the point of treatment and funded entirely from taxation.

Gone is the policy of the previous leadership to pay a partial subsidy to patients who opt for private treatment. Gone also is the party's support for tax relief on medical insurance premiums. This is particularly surprising as tax relief had been a mainstay of Conservative policy for many years. The last Conservative Government actually introduced tax relief on medical insurance premiums for people over retirement age, but this was removed when Labour came to power in 1997.

Although distancing himself from private insurance, Cameron gave enthusiastic support to the idea of involving private firms into the delivery of care within the NHS. Taken altogether, therefore, the Tory strategy looks hardly different from that of Labour. This seems a strange position to take politically when the Government's reforms are under increasing criticism for delivering very little real improvement if compared to the massive injections of cash.

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