Tory MP Dr Phillip Lee claims that individuals who knowingly make unhealthy choices should meet at least part of the cost, either directly through charges or indirectly through insurance.

Writing exclusively for the Sunday Express, Dr Lee, the MP for Bracknell in Berkshire, says: “We should introduce more personal responsibility into how we fund our health care.

“We all make choices in life and long may we be free to do so: what we eat, what we drink and how much we exercise.

"But many of these decisions can adversely affect our health.

“For example, consuming convenience foods which are high in fat and salt, leading sexually promiscuous private lives, drinking too much alcohol or using illicit drugs.

“Such choices often increase the cost of our health care.

"I believe that individuals who knowingly make unhealthy choices should meet at least part of this cost.”

Last month the medical director of NHS England, Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, sparked controversy by warning that the NHS is not “fit for purpose” and unless it undergoes radical change may be forced to abandon the principle of free health care for all.

GP surgeries need to be given more resources to cope with the pressures of demand and tight budgets, he added.

Ukip’s Nigel Farage has also said that Britain’s political leaders will have to reconsider the idea of funding the NHS through an insurance-based system, such as the one in America.

In a recent BBC interview, he said: “As time goes on, this is a debate that we’re all going to have to return to.”

Last night Dr Maureen Baker, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, rejected any move to charge patients for using the NHS.

She told the Sunday Express: “As a family doctor, Phillip Lee understands the pressures facing GPs and he has supported the college’s calls for general practice to receive a greater share of the NHS budget.

"But charging patients for appointments is something that the college disagrees with.

“It would fundamentally change one of the founding principles of the NHS – that health care is free at the point of need – and penalising people for treatment associated with their lifestyle choices would be counterproductive.

“It would undoubtedly deter many people from seeking medical help in the early stages of illness when they can be dealt with cost-effectively and efficiently in primary care.

“What we need is more investment into general practice and at least 10,000 more GPs across the UK so that we can provide more services to all our patients and give them the care that they need, when they need it.” 

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Commentary

By Philip Lee MP

Ed Miliband has revealed he wants to use the NHS as a weapon to win votes in May’s general election.

This is unworthy of a man who wants to be prime minister and will not help us develop the health services we need.

Instead, we must take politics out of health care – as we took it out of fiscal policy when we made the Bank of England independent – and set up a Royal Commission to develop a National Health Service fit for the 21st century.

The NHS crisis has been brewing for decades, driven by the deadly combination of ageing infrastructure, ageing people and modern lifestyle choices.

Despite their war of words, there is great consensus between Conservative and Labour parties.

Both are committed to our system above any of the alternatives to be found in the world.

Both agree that our health services should be free at the point of delivery and paid for by general taxation.

Both have introduced private sector provision into the system.

Both regularly commit to increase spending and both have resorted to short-term fixes for political expediency.

But none of this will solve problems which are practical and long term.

Instead, our health services depend on positive debate to create solutions, particularly to the challenges of structuring and funding health care over the coming decades.

We need fewer, better specialist hospitals and a national plan for where we put them.

We need more community hospitals and services to deliver the care needed to deal with chronic conditions.

“Weaponising” the NHS won’t deliver the health care we need.

Indeed, politics, with its emphasis on short-term horizons, cannot overcome the challenges.

We need a truly national, cross-party approach.