HISTORY
The post World War II labour government created the NHS as part of its sweeping welfare state reform policy. The general hypotheses was that England had just proven, during the war years, that it was capable of employing almost the entire workforce and spend large amounts of money on wartime endeavours, and that those same resources could be focused on the public good. Unfortunately, once the US ended its war with Japan, all funding from the US that had subsidised Britain up to this point was withdrawn, leaving the newly birthed NHS short of funding. The situation was somewhat remedied at the beginning of the cold war, when the US provided funds to help rebuild the economy of Western Europe.
Many doctors were initially negatively biased to the idea of free public healthcare, and went so far as to gather themselves into an organised opposition. This opposition was not fully laid to rest until Aneurin Bevan, the Minister of Health at the time, managed to convince the medical profession that the healthcare reforms that were to lay the path for the NHS, were essential; he then went on to offer lucrative settlements for future consultants to the young NHS.
The resulting healthcare system ensured that everyone, regardless of background or income, would have access to medical treatment, and be able to seek the advice and service of doctors as they needed. All of this was funded solely through taxation, the Labour Party in England still touts the NHS as its greatest ever achievement.