So, remember how a move towards universal healthcare is supposed to reduce costs to society?
Remember my concerns about such a system inviting government intervention into citizens’ private lives and/or bureaucrats rationing treatment in the interest of keeping the budget under control?
Seen at the Telegraph, in a story about the British National Health Service:
Doctors are calling for NHS treatment to be withheld from patients who are too old or who lead unhealthy lives.
Smokers, heavy drinkers, the obese and the elderly should be barred from receiving some operations, according to doctors, with most saying the health service cannot afford to provide free care to everyone.[...]
Gordon Brown promised this month that a new NHS constitution would set out people’s “responsibilities” as well as their rights, a move interpreted as meaning restrictions on patients who bring health problems on themselves. The only sanction threatened so far, however, is to send patients to the bottom of the waiting list if they miss appointments.
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1 Saving money by not treating the sic | Battling Alzheimer // 29 Jan 2008 at 3:56 pm
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