After independence Scotland could afford a properly funded NHS. Currently Westminster chooses not to give it us.

The funding Scotland gets from the UK Government to pay for the Scottish NHS is tied to how much the UK Government spends on the NHS in England. If the UK Government chooses to underfund England, then Scotland’s budget is correspondingly reduced. And it does. The UK invests considerably less in the NHS than many other European countries spend on health. It could afford to properly fund it, but chooses not.

In fact when the Tories claim that “record levels” are being spent, this is because they lump in the exceptional costs of COVID. When you take these away its obvious that investment in UK health has flatlined.

Sources

OECD, 2020

ONS Health Spending, annual abstract of stats

PESA GDP deflators, ONS Series L&GG.