Obligatory check-ups or higher national insurance

We can put Health into the National Health Service. One way would be to institute an onligatory but free, annual, MOT-style 'life-check' with a family doctor. He could tell if we are overweight, drink too much or smoke too many cigarettes. He could give us an introduction to the local branch of Weight Watchers, arrange some sessions with the local substance misuse team or provide a course of 'fag patches', if giving up smoking is too much for us to manage without help. He might suggest we raise a sweat by visiting the local leisure centre and he would certainly invite us back in six months for a re-test.

If we have been silly, choosing to carry on with an unreformed lifestyle, we might be given a second chance. After that: just as the accident-prone bad driver can expect an increase in his motor insurance premium, so the doctor would be obliged to increase our national insurance contributions.