Re: Should those with a income of more than 80k pay for scho : Fri Jan 24, 2014 10:14 am  

Mintball wrote:

A particularly interesting question in Dally's case as he has a daughter with long-term care and support needs. One wonders what the insurance etc costs would be in relation to her.

See my post above. I have never said anything against our system - indeed reguarly the opposite. I am just laying out the other side of the argument, which I think was whee DubaiRL was coming from.

Long-term care is uninsurable. Indeed, I was quoted £25,000 for 3 or 4 days travel insurance to Amsterdam a couple of years back. We took a chance!

Re: Should those with a income of more than 80k pay for scho : Fri Jan 24, 2014 10:17 am  

all this over my opinion on a tax. Relax some people like the current system and others don't that is all. And i think its silly to change an opinion to suit your situation. Like i said if i was living in the uk i wouldn't be one of those who get a tax break from Education as i wouldn't be able to afford to send a child to private school but that still doesn't change my opinion that people shouldn't be responsible for them selves unless they truly can't.

And jerry i get it you like the NHS, personally i wouldn't want to wait for any treatment no matter how minor it is deemed to be. Also i wouldn't want to be kicked out of a recovery bed in hospital because they have no room and the next person needs it. I wouldn't want to see a system in the uk where people can't afford medical treatment like i have seen in the philippines. As far as state pension seriously i would be very unhappy with my self if i had only that as a pension. Also would you still be eligible for a state pension if you had assets over a certain worth?

Im not going to go in to my expenditure on here but what i will say is i have around 1000 pound a month left over to save plus any extra money i have made for that month. And thats not including what my partner is saving as well.

Re: Should those with a income of more than 80k pay for scho : Fri Jan 24, 2014 10:25 am  

Dally wrote:

See my post above. I have never said anything against our system - indeed reguarly the opposite. I am just laying out the other side of the argument, which I think was whee DubaiRL was coming from...

I wasn't having a go at you: merely raising something to illustrate the situation further – and not at you.

Dally wrote:

Long-term care is uninsurable. Indeed, I was quoted £25,000 for 3 or 4 days travel insurance to Amsterdam a couple of years back. We took a chance!

Jeez Lousie! That's absolutely insane! (The quoted rate – not your decision).

Re: Should those with a income of more than 80k pay for scho : Fri Jan 24, 2014 11:05 am  

dubairl wrote:

And jerry i get it you like the NHS, personally i wouldn't want to wait for any treatment no matter how minor it is deemed to be. Also i wouldn't want to be kicked out of a recovery bed in hospital because they have no room and the next person needs it. I wouldn't want to see a system in the uk where people can't afford medical treatment like i have seen in the philippines. As far as state pension seriously i would be very unhappy with my self if i had only that as a pension. Also would you still be eligible for a state pension if you had assets over a certain worth?

Its the reason that most UK citizens regard the NHS as a prized asset and one reason why selling bits of it off can be election losing strategies for any government. hence the reason that the current incumbents keep any mention of contracting out services to the minimum - they are doing it but keeping it very low key.

As for waiting lists, they grow or contract depending on how much money is thrown at the problem, and it also depends on what ailments you are speaking of. There is a great deal of talk from government about what is necessary and what is not necessary when services are provided by them, the "spare room subsidy" being one, if you don't need a spare room they won't pay for it - likewise with health, if your hip replacement or ingrowing toe nail is not life threatening (which it rarely is) then its not an issue to throw money at to give it a one day turn-around, unlike (for example) cancer treatment where the friend of mine that I mentioned some days back with the brain tumour was admitted and his treatment begun on the same day that he saw the NHS consultant, the appointment being just two days after he had initially reported his dizzy spells to his GP.


As for your state pension, yes, many of your elderly neighbours will still be drawing a UK state pension regardless of their personal income, plus (believe it or not) a winter fuel allowance - its probably why they keep the air con running all day where you can't afford it.

The state pension could be better, but its not bad and many elderly manage solely on it, in the next ten years I will probably be considering retirement and with a joint state pension and income from the two small pension schemes we salvaged from the fire sale of our business, with no mortgage and no dependents still living at home we should be ok - there won't be any round the world cruises but I can live without that sort of stuff anyway.

Re: Should those with a income of more than 80k pay for scho : Fri Jan 24, 2014 1:30 pm  

JerryChicken wrote:

Its the reason that most UK citizens regard the NHS as a prized asset and one reason why selling bits of it off can be election losing strategies for any government. hence the reason that the current incumbents keep any mention of contracting out services to the minimum - they are doing it but keeping it very low key.

As for waiting lists, they grow or contract depending on how much money is thrown at the problem, and it also depends on what ailments you are speaking of. There is a great deal of talk from government about what is necessary and what is not necessary when services are provided by them, the "spare room subsidy" being one, if you don't need a spare room they won't pay for it - likewise with health, if your hip replacement or ingrowing toe nail is not life threatening (which it rarely is) then its not an issue to throw money at to give it a one day turn-around, unlike (for example) cancer treatment where the friend of mine that I mentioned some days back with the brain tumour was admitted and his treatment begun on the same day that he saw the NHS consultant, the appointment being just two days after he had initially reported his dizzy spells to his GP.


As for your state pension, yes, many of your elderly neighbours will still be drawing a UK state pension regardless of their personal income, plus (believe it or not) a winter fuel allowance - its probably why they keep the air con running all day where you can't afford it.

The state pension could be better, but its not bad and many elderly manage solely on it, in the next ten years I will probably be considering retirement and with a joint state pension and income from the two small pension schemes we salvaged from the fire sale of our business, with no mortgage and no dependents still living at home we should be ok - there won't be any round the world cruises but I can live without that sort of stuff anyway.

i won't argue the NHS is good at what it does and people with cancer are priority number one. unfortunately i lost a family member with a brain tumor and another to liver cancer and both was treated very well under the NHS and they didn't have to wait for any treatments. But on the other side to that there is people in pain waiting for treatment because its not a priority and i wouldn't like to be in the situation.

Its very rare you see any pensioners in the UAE mainly because they can't get a visa even home owners are limited with there visas. Believe me a state pension will not cover my DEWA bill (dubai electricity water authority) which in the summers reach above 500 pounds. But like i said Dubai is a place you come to get money and hopefully get better opportunities in your career and then leave.

Re: Should those with a income of more than 80k pay for scho : Fri Jan 24, 2014 1:44 pm  

dubairl wrote:

To be honest i am well out of date with the rate of NIS and Tax bands. but i would imagine its 6-8% NIS and 12-18% tax? but like i said well out of date with them.

Like i said i won't have children till i can afford them and I don't blame or hold anything against people who have children and work but claim tax credits. I only have a problem with people who have children to get benefits in life.

My Medical insurance premium in dubai is roughly $2,500 US. The policy covers me up to 1,000,000 in treatments, in patient & out patient and is direct billing, the excess on the policy is 12quid. obviously there is other benefits to it but they are the main ones. but that doesn't include a pension fund, once i purchased a couple of apartments (main aim is to have a small property portfolio) i will start contributing to a pension fund.

I have unemployment insurance with my bank, it covers my monthly salary for 6months, But i do have savings if anything ever was to seriously happen.

If i am honest that is my salary but not including extras i do. I do freelance business solutions, mainly I help companies set up here because the process to get a trade license isn't and easy process. Each company i set up with a trade license i get around 1,500-2,000 pounds.

I am sure there are policies that cover that here but i don't have one. Dubai is a great city but i wouldn't say its set up for people to retire here.

You sound like an excellent citizen and a credit to any country in which you choose to call home.

Re: Should those with a income of more than 80k pay for scho : Fri Jan 24, 2014 1:46 pm  

dubairl wrote:

But like i said Dubai is a place you come to get money and hopefully get better opportunities in your career and then leave.

Such a shame that no-one explained that properly to Jim Davidson.

Re: Should those with a income of more than 80k pay for scho : Fri Jan 24, 2014 1:52 pm  

JerryChicken wrote:

Such a shame that no-one explained that properly to Jim Davidson.

I have no idea who that is?

Re: Should those with a income of more than 80k pay for scho : Fri Jan 24, 2014 1:59 pm  

Mintball wrote:

Jeez Lousie! That's absolutely insane! (The quoted rate – not your decision).

It was one of these online firm's. I 'phoned them because of the unusual circumstances. They had standard questions and my answers obviously informed their software not to insurance and defualt to a huge premium! They could not deal with the actual / probabilistic situation. This is the problem with companies using monkeys and standardisation - they can't cater for anything non-standard.

Re: Should those with a income of more than 80k pay for scho : Fri Jan 24, 2014 2:10 pm  

dubairl wrote:

I have no idea who that is?

Don't put yourself out trying to find out, he is a 1970s comedian who has grown old and not changed his view on race, sex, religion etc etc, so that when he was dumped from TV like a bad smell he departed this country for Dubai with the comment that he may as well be an ethnic minority in Dubai rather than wait for five years and be one in the UK. Shortly afterwards he came scuttling back to find work in reality TV programs when producers are looking for old weirdos to add a bit of edge to proceedings, presumably his brand of humour didn't go down well in a society that isn't predominantly white.