Actually National Insurance is not for the NHS - it's for state benefits which mostly are the State Pension followed by Widows and Bereavement Benefits, Incapacity Benefit, Unemployment Benefit and Maternity Allowance. I never said the NHS was free - I simply said that the entire burden of the cost or your treatment isn't on your shoulders - it's spread across the entire nation. And so yes, you helped pay for my knee surgery last year (thank you). And please read the small print on your private medical insurance - every one of my friends who've had that have cancelled theirs because when they came to claim on it the insurance company did everything in their power not to pay. It's amazing what they can claim is a 'pre-existing condition'.