The claim is that the Reform leader (Nigel Farage) said people who can pay should pay for NHS treatment. The evidence strongly supports this. **December 2024 Telegraph interview:** Farage was quoted as saying: "The funding of the NHS is a total failure. The French do it much better with less funding. There is a lesson there. If you can afford it, you pay; if you can't, you don't. It works incredibly well." This was directly in the context of discussing NHS funding models, and Full Fact confirmed this quote. **January 2025 LBC interview:** Farage said he was "open to anything" when asked about replacing the NHS with an insurance-based model, and discussed the French system "where you pay in to effectively an insurance scheme" and acknowledged "the rich pay and the poor don't." **March 2015 BBC interview:** As UKIP leader, Farage said "those that can afford to do it should" use private healthcare, to "relieve the pressure" on the NHS. He also said "People who can afford private health care should pay for it." This was specifically about choosing private healthcare rather than paying for NHS treatment directly, but it reinforces the broader pattern. **Important nuance:** Farage has simultaneously and repeatedly insisted the NHS should remain "free at the point of delivery," and Reform UK's 2024 manifesto committed to this. He has denied Labour's claims that he would charge people to use the NHS. Full Fact notes this tension: Farage says he supports free-at-point-of-delivery while also expressing openness to alternative funding models where those who can afford it would pay. The core assertion — that Farage said people who can afford it should pay — is directly confirmed by the December 2024 Telegraph quote ("If you can afford it, you pay; if you can't, you don't") made explicitly in the context of NHS funding. While Farage contextualises this within an insurance-based model rather than direct charges for NHS treatment, the claim accurately captures what he said. Sources: - BBC News, "Nigel Farage: Choose private healthcare if you can afford it" (March 2015): https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-31929770 - Full Fact, "Is Labour right to claim Reform UK would 'scrap the NHS'?": https://fullfact.org/health/reform-nigel-farage-pay-for-nhs-labour/ - Byline Times, "Nigel Farage Says He Is 'Open to Anything' When It Comes to Replacing NHS With 'Insurance-Based Model'" (January 2025): https://bylinetimes.com/2025/01/27/nigel-farages-latest-nhs-comments-spark-fresh-scrutiny-of-reform-uks-health-policy/ - The Independent, "UK should 're-examine' NHS funding model, says Farage" (2025): https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/nigel-farage-nhs-wes-streeting-birmingham-labour-b2723232.html