Budget includes £650 million in 'secret cuts' to the NHS, analysis shows

Changes to public sector pensions will leave NHS employers with a hefty bill that will come out of services

George Osborne made hundreds of millions of pounds in “secret cuts” to the NHS in his Budget, according to the small print of his Budget document.

Research compiled by the Liberal Democrats suggests £650 millio

One of these employers is the National Health Service, the largest public employer in the country – meaning less cash will be available to spend on front line services once the new costs are met.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said the Chancellor was trying to “pull the wool over people’s eyes” but the Government said employers had time to prepare for the extra costs.

“Even by George Osborne’s standards, this is a vicious attack on our health service, schools and public services,” Mr Farron said.

“He made grand promises about funding the NHS and is now making secret cuts by the back door.

“David Cameron said he would do whatever it takes to fill the NHS black hole, and we’ve now discovered that actually means cutting £650 million just to help the Chancellor’s budget-day balance sheet.

“George Osborne cannot pull the wool over people’s eyes. Choosing to ask schools, hospitals, and forces to pay £2 billion extra in pension contributions has a real cost, and vital services will have to pick up the bill.

“The Conservatives simply cannot be trusted to protect the services communities rely on up and down the country.”

The Chancellor announced that he would change the so-called “discount rate” for the pensions, meaning central government will pay less but front line employers will pay more.

The additional forced budget pressure on the NHS comes weeks after the Health Foundation warned the NHS's financial position has “substantially deteriorated” in recent years.

All regions of the English NHS have gone from a surplus in 2012/13 to all but one being in overall deficit in 2014/5, according to official figures.

Despite the looming financial crisis, the National Health Service received only brief passing mentions in the Chancellor’s Budget speech to the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Mr Osborne said during the address that he was increasing funding for the service.

BBC News reports that a total of £1 billion is likely to be taken from health and education combined by the changes.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nhs-cuts-budget-george-osborne-secret-stealth-privatisation-a6938441.html




More lies from this bastard government.

Along with the 'sacrificial lamb of Social Security & Medicaid assistance programs' {primarily for the aged/handicapped/child nutritional needs} one other important issue on my own radar is the possible cut to the EPA.  Our EPA and POTUS have been trying to keep hundreds of acres off of the Mining/Oil & Gas industry options for mineral rights {mining and drilling} --- if the GOP is allowed to get away with these cuts then the veto that POTUS used to protect the Indian Tribe fighting for their sacred land from mining speculators --- will be null & voided.

As the House Budget Committee approved a $1.07 trillion budget plan on Wednesday night, a leading conservative group was set to propose its own fiscal blueprint that spends less money, in the hope it would inspire the Republican conference to move in the same direction.
The Republican Study Committee’s budget, which will officially be unveiled on Thursday, proposes $974 billion in discretionary spending for fiscal year 2017, compared to the $1.07 trillion figure that House leadership is pushing.
The Republican Study Committee (RSC), which includes more than 170 House members, releases an alternative budget every year in an attempt to make the main House Republican budget more conservative.
According to an executive summary of the proposal obtained by The Daily Signal, the budget would slice $8.6 trillion in spending over a decade — more than $2 trillion more in cuts than the Budget Committee’s blueprint — and balance in eight years without increasing revenues.  http://dailysignal.com/2016/03/16/with-release-of-budget-plan-house-conservatives-push-for-steeper-cuts/

One of many such 'land grant' issues going up before the GOP controlled House & Senate and this specific one was defeated 'TWICE' before but was attached to a military arms bill about IRAN and was sneaked by with that bill being passed:
Sen. John McCain was behind this last slimy method to get this approved...

The San Carlos Apache have been joined by more than 70 other indigenous tribes in opposing what critics call the theft of their land. The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI), which counts 57 member tribes, and the 16-member Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association (GPTCA), have each asked senators not to approve the land transfer.

“If such a land transfer provision seems out of place in a defense bill, that’s because it is," Quinalt Indian Nation President Fawn Sharp told Indian Country Today. "If the idea of transferring the ownership of federal forest lands to foreign mining companies seems absurd, it’s because that’s true, too."

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/politics/congress-gives-sacred-native-american-land-to-mining-company/article/420679#ixzz43GbA9500

And the Mining Company has the Queen of England as one of the major stock holders!

Despite these protections, in December 2014, Congress promised to hand the title for Oak Flat over to a private, Australian-British mining concern. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/opinion/selling-off-apache-holy-land.html?_r=0