Former PM Gordon Brown says health service is too vital to throw away its future for independence, Daily Record

GORDON Brown says we must continue to share costs of health care and welfare with rest of the union - or pay the price.

WHY should the people of Scotland throw away a system that we helped create, a system that benefits us greatly to this day?

This question is particularly important when it is often a matter of life and death.

Our NHS is worth £176 a month to every single Scottish man, woman and child.

That is £17 a month more than the £159 that the NHS spends on patients in England and £13 per month more than the £163 it spends on patients in Wales.

It means that over a whole year, £200 more is spent on the health care of each of us in Scotland than on our English neighbours.

But the funding of our NHS in Scotland comes not just from money raised in Scotland by taxes levied here. It comes from money raised from all over the UK by taxes paid by every UK citizen.

Overall, Scotland receives around £950million more for health care than any division of resources based on population share would provide, and for very good reasons.

With more elderly people, more people with disabilities and a wider geographical area to cover, Scottish needs are greater and the share out of resources arises from the founding principle of the NHS which is the best there could be: you pay in based on your ability to pay and you benefit based on your need.

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