Obviously, everything has to be paid for. But "free at the point of use" is the point here. If I had to shell out hundred of pounds for a replacement hearing aid it'd be a real pain, even if I can do it. And there are a good few people who just couldn't. And when it comes to major medical treatment where it's not a cae of a few hundred but a lot of thousands

"Free at the point of use" makes sense. Road maintenance costs money. Running a fire service costs money. But it'd be a drag if every time you wanted to walk down the road outside your house you had to pay an admission charge. Or if your house caught fire you had to pay the firecrew before they could do anything about it.

It's the basis of private insurance of course - except there there's exclusions and exceptions, and paperwork to try to get payment agreed in advance, or to get back the money you've paid out.

Why make life harder for everyone, most especially for people who are sick and frightened? All for the sake of some ideological commitment to avoid "socialized medicine"?