ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author stresses the necessity of moving to a structure of individual financial empowerment, and then of competing purchasers. This would come about through passing individual control of funds to individual customers, who then choose with which purchasing body to spend their funds. The role of government should be limited to protecting competition so that markets protect consumers. Competition innovates, teaches, experiments and improves. It evolves by trial and error, in a complex, responsive, experimental process of change. It has solved many manufacturing problems, lowered costs, made goods and services widely available to an unpredicted extent, offered multiple improvements, and given better lives, pleasure and fulfilment to billions. The National Health Service is still systematically disconnected from the modern world where competition has driven up standards, reduced costs, enlarged expectations, believed in demand and enhanced choice so that all our lives have changed for the better.
