[denton-scratch]

You haven't mentioned how public provision is to be made. I know that things like sanitation, energy, health, water, and so on can all be provided privately, by capitalists; I know that it doesn't work as well as public provision.

Here in the UK, all of those things were public, until they were privatised in the '80s. I'm in a position to compare the service we used to have with the one we have now. In every case, they're worse (I deliberately didn't mention telecoms). The only service here that hasn't yet been completely privatised yet is health; unfortunately it's rapidly being privatised, and becoming more like the US system (I've spent a fair bit of time recently in hospitals and clinics).

The NHS is paid for collectively; "free at the point of delivery", as they say (which is a lie). But they do refuse to do some expensive treatments; many other treatments have very long waiting lists (hip replacements). They only have to squeeze harder to force more people into private treatment.

[notch656a]

The provision is anyone who wants to consent to a pact to communally benefit from a cooperative effort can do so. This takes many forms, it could be co-op (kind of like a farmer's co-op as often found in rural US at least where farmers all chip in to buy goods and then divide), charity, insurance, or really any consensual arrangement you can come up with. Or some people may prefer for-profit enterprise. Public should not have a monopoly.

NHS would not exist. It is an institution of violence, funded coercively.

[denton-scratch]

> It is an institution of violence, funded coercively.

Goodness, what a weird thing to say. It is Britian's most-loved institution.

I've never met anyone in Britain that disapproves of the NHS. We were all born in the NHS, doctors visited us as children when we got chicken pox, and the whole thing was organised so as to provide the best response they could to the public's needs. Village hospitals, visiting midwives, comprehensive GP service.

We were never asked to pay.

So are you seriously advocating a "system" where all services are provided by private businesses that are free to withdraw services at any time? Where different services (IC, CT scan, MRI, ENT, surgery) are all provided by different companies in different locations? Where unprofitable locations get zero service?

Even bosses love the NHS - it means they don't have to include insurance in the comp.

Thatcher privatised nearly every government-run business operation, but she balked at privatising the NHS. It was too popular.

Of course it's funded coercively; it's funded from general taxation. But "violence"? What can you possibly mean?

[notch656a]

Try not paying your "general taxation" and continually refusing to answer judges and collection efforts. Try refusing to go to jail when it is the ultimate result. You'll understand what I mean by violence. NHS is an institution of violence.

I didn't say everything has to be profitable. There's plenty of ways to consensually operate without profit. Farmer do it in the US with coops and pooled buying of feed and fertilizer and all manner of other stuff. Charities also do things unprofitably but consensually. I'm good with whatever non-coercive way you find to get your CT scan.