Is there time to save the NHS?

I received an e-mail and read an article on the Guardian web site that both asked the same question.

First, a little background.  Andrew Lansley, the Secretary of State for Health, has had a law passed which means that the NHS is going to be re-organised.  The re-organisation means that groups of G.P.'s will form Commisioning Groups who will, in essence, 'buy' the health care that they think their patients will require.  To 'sweeten' the deal, the Government have promised not to have the G.P.'s pay subject to regional variations, whereas many of the staff that they work with will have their pay varied according to their Post Code.

Last night, there were meetings where the biggest private health care companies put on some 'presentations' to groups of interested G.P.'s.  Rival presentations were put on by an organisation called 38 degrees (http://www.38degrees.org.uk/ if you want to check for yourself) whose main aim in life is to make sure that the NHS remains 'free at the point of delivery'.  They say that there is 'wiggle room' within the act so that the 'fat cats' in the private sector do not get their hands on the N.H.S. (My words, not theirs). 
The problem that I do not have experience with other forms of health care.  On the continent, doctors receive part of their money direct from patients.  What are the benefits/disadvantages of this?  I know that we do not want a system like the U.S. where patients are not taken to hospital unless they have the correct insurance forms, and where a large proportion of bankruptcies are the result of non-payment of medical bills where people have long term chronic conditions.

So save the N.H.S. and make sure that the poor and vulnerable are protected.