If there is an NHS - a National Health Service - then why isn't there a National Education Service, a National Housing Service, a National Transport Service and a National Energy Service, a National Water Service? etc.?
What is the difference?
Health provision is a need. So we all accept that it is a right to which we are all entitled.
The same applies to many other things, yet for some reason it is expected that we must provide these things for ourselves in a sort of "dog eat dog" way. There is no reason for the difference other than tradition and inertia.