UK citizens should pay a £10-a month NHS ‘membership charge' in order for the service to survive the next five years of austerity, a former Labour health minister has urged.
In a report for think-tank Reform, Lord Warner, minister for health reform in Tony Blair's government, argued that NHS funding from general taxation should rise only with inflation to avoid "starving" the rest of the public sector of resources.
The report authors said: "Even with major changes to care, it is now irresponsible to pretend to the public that current forms of taxation alone will be sufficient to provide a good quality health and care system".
The report recommended higher "sin" taxes on alcohol, tobacco and sugary foods, means-testing of NHS "Continuing Care", and £10 per month NHS membership charge and other patient contributions.
The membership fee would be collected with Council Tax to fund local preventative health care.
In addition, the report urged for everyone to gain NHS Membership - entitling people of working age to an annual Health MOT, planning ‘co-produced' health over the year.
In response, Dr Ian Wilson, chairman of the BMA's Representative Body, said: "Lord Warner's conclusion that the NHS is being driven into a worsening funding crisis will ring true with all who work in it.
"Whilst some of his proposals merit closer examination, resolving under-funding should not be at the expense of the most vulnerable in society nor at the fundamental principle that the National Health Service needs to be free at the point of use and the BMA firmly believes that charging for patients is not the solution.
"The Government has so far failed to provide a fair and sustainable solution to the funding crisis, with its efforts instead focusing on attempting to balance the books on the back of frontline staff through year-on-year pay freezes."
