[Ignitionnet]

Hey,

Just to address the above, the contributions would be absolutely compulsory, and part of the minimum income guarantee being in 'electronic food stamps' is, yes, somewhat authoritarian which I have a distaste for but ensures that people eat and will improve welfare in homes where the welfare state is misused. For cases where it would not be misused I would hope it would be viewed as a simple way to pay for groceries.

Potentially this method of payment would have a pitfall that would need addressing with software at the PoS - ensuring that it cannot be used to purchase age restricted goods would be necessary and would ensure that there's no use of it in supermarkets for tobacco or alcohol. Placing the claimants photograph on the card would ensure it is non-transferable. This card could replace the NI card though photograph, name and NI number would be the extent of the information contained on the card to avoid it becoming an 'ID card' of sorts with balance held online not on the card and transactions authorised via chip and pin, never to be handed to a cashier or leave card holder's sight.

The compulsory insurance schemes don't require high rates of taxation - Canadians and Americans pay less tax than we do and North America is where I plagiarised the ideas from - the popularity idea referred to the idea of having a time limit on employment insurance and paying a dedicated insurance premium for health card, with each home nation having to pay its' way. The other issue is that it would prevent the government from using healthcare or welfare as political footballs. If they both have to be paid for and are ring fenced the government can't hike spending up as a vote winner, as this would require them to increase premiums as well which would be up to the home nation, nor can they 'borrow' funds from any surplus - governments won't like it as it takes control away from them and requires them to be accountable directly to their electorates. 'We want to increase health spending by 20%, here's your insurance premium for next year.' has a rather sharper effect on the electorate than 'We have increased health spending by 20%, we'll sneak the paying for it into your income taxes some time in the next 10 years or so and in the interim we'll just borrow so we don't have to increase your taxes right now and lose votes and can blame the next government, have a nice day.'