Lord Warner, the former Labour health minister, has proposed a change that might just help rescue the NHS from its combined care and cash crisis: a £10 monthly membership fee paid by all adults (with some exceptions). This membership fee (regardless of income) would have little impact on an organisation with a budget running at £130 billion a year, even if it actually is an odd subscription alternative to a more straightforward increase in general taxation or national insurance contributions. These issues cannot be ignored any longer. The NHS care crisis remained largely hidden in times of plenty. Warner displays two options: first, the austerity programme based on reducing public spending is the only way to deal with the deficit, and secondly, the NHS of the future is only viable if people pays more towards the costs. In return for the fee, Warner suggests that everyone in the UK of working age would be entitled to an annual "health MOT". The fee would be collected with council tax to fund local preventative health care. The NHS, facing a £30bn deficit by 2020, is becoming economically unsustainable because of tax base, condition of the public finances, changing population needs, and the implication of scientific development. Warner claims that funding the NHS might seriously damage other important public services, that’s why he challenges the very principle underpinning the NHS. The membership fee is just the beginning of plans to expand the tax base for health care. Efficiency improvements (currently unimplemented) are suggested, such as much higher taxes on tobacco, alcohol, sugary foods and drinks, gambling and “hotel charges” for visitors in hospitals. Warner came up with an essential matter, but the polls do not show willingness to countenance higher taxes. The gLAWcal Team Monday, April 7, 2014 (Source: The Guardian) This news has been realized by gLAWcal—Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development in collaboration with the University Institute of European Studies (IUSE) in Turin, Italy and the University of Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy which are both beneficiaries of the European Union Research Executive Agency IRSES Project “Liberalism in Between Europe And China” (LIBEAC) coordinated by Aix-Marseille University (CEPERC). This work has been realized in the framework of Workpackages 4, coordinated by University Institute of European Studies (IUSE) in Turin, Italy.