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Sdasd tont Posted 10 years ago
Vocabulary
I need your help
Hi, I am a Chinese reader of The Economics.
There is a tricky sentence I have read in this article England’s National Health Service: Bitter pills, and I really can't understand the words 'private outfit' and 'profit margin'.
More fundamentally, the focus must shift away from treating illness and towards preventing it. The NHS was designed with acute conditions in mind; nowadays 70% of its spending is on long-term illnesses. It is cheaper, as well as better for patients, to reduce obesity, say, than to treat diabetes. Yet NHS providers are paid for the procedures they carry out, not for those that they render unnecessary. A better model would be to give health providers a budget based on the population they serve, and pay them according to their ability to meet targets of better public health. This would increase the incentives to use new technology that would give patients more responsibility for their own health. If private outfits can do this with a profit margin to spare, good for them.
Thanks!
There is a tricky sentence I have read in this article England’s National Health Service: Bitter pills, and I really can't understand the words 'private outfit' and 'profit margin'.
More fundamentally, the focus must shift away from treating illness and towards preventing it. The NHS was designed with acute conditions in mind; nowadays 70% of its spending is on long-term illnesses. It is cheaper, as well as better for patients, to reduce obesity, say, than to treat diabetes. Yet NHS providers are paid for the procedures they carry out, not for those that they render unnecessary. A better model would be to give health providers a budget based on the population they serve, and pay them according to their ability to meet targets of better public health. This would increase the incentives to use new technology that would give patients more responsibility for their own health. If private outfits can do this with a profit margin to spare, good for them.
Thanks!
Top answer
sdasd tont I really can't understand the words 'private outfit Private companies/contractors that provide services to the NHS. The NHS is a publicly funded, public service, not a private company. sdasd tont and 'profit margin'.
- sdasd tont I really can't understand the words 'private outfit Private companies/contractors that provide services to the NHS.
- The NHS is a publicly funded, public service, not a private company.
- sdasd tont and 'profit margin'.
- The proportion of profit they have made by providing health services on behalf of the NHS.
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2 Answers
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sdasd tontI really can't understand the words 'private outfitPrivate companies/contractors that provide services to the NHS. The NHS is a publicly funded, public service, not a private company.
sdasd tontand 'profit margin'.The proportion of profit they have made by providing health services on behalf of the NHS.
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I'm in the US, and I'm not familiar with many things in the UK, but the British NHS is apparently a branch of the government, which nevertheless uses private companies to provide various services. In the quoted passage these companies are apparently referred to as "NHS providers," "health providers," and "private outfits."
The passage is saying that changing the way the providers are pai
The passage is saying that changing the way the providers are pai
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