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Mr Burnham says a voluntary insurance based scheme - as advocated by the Tories - would be more expensive than a compulsory one and leave millions without healthcare. He said: "There is a clear echo here of the current US healthcare debate and also an echo of that which surrounded the creation of the NHS in 1948. "The difference between America and here is that we have established a principle that we all come together as a society to look after people. We don't leave it to the individuals to fend for themselves with the hand of cards life deals them." Britain's ageing population means the care of the elderly by the state cannot be ignored, the Health Secretary said Despite advocating multi-billion pound proposals close to an election he told The Times: "I'm not sure how much longer our current system will still be standing. It's not amillion miles away from falling over completely. Failure to act would mean that the unfairnesses would just grow as the home-owning generation of pensioners enters the care system." He said that "fear of old age: what will happen, how will they pay for it and what will be the effect on their family" has been added to the original five Giant Evils that William Beveridge tried to allay with the welfare state. Read More： Fashion Week diary How to eat like a gold-medal Olympian China vows to promote transformation of development pattern in 2010 Elegance Drifting Through the Ages of Time Chinese poor college students more satisfied with national assistance system