NHS patients 'will pay under health bill' Patients will hence increasingly be required to pay top-up fees for treatment above and beyond what the NHS provides, or rely on private healthcare insurance, she says. The letter, headed 'A flawed NHS Bill with a hidden purpose', has been given a full page in today's Lancet. Its editor-in-chief, Dr Richard Horton, is strongly opposed to the Health and Social Care Bill. The letter was co-authored by David Price, also of Barts, and two lawyers. Their analysis - shared by many other opponents of the Bill - is fiercely disputed by ministers and supporters of the Bill who dismiss it as scaremongering. The Prime Minister and Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, have both repeatedly insisted that the NHS will remain free to patients at the point of the delivery. A Department of Health spokesman dismissed Prof Pollock's arguments as "simply nonsense." She said: "The Bill reaffirms that healthcare will always be there for everyone who needs it, funded from general taxation, and based on need not ability to pay. The £4.5 billion we are saving by removing unnecessary management will be re-invested to make sure that every patient gets the care they need.