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Britain's Government-Run National Health Service Cuts Back On Services

I imagine it must be somewhat tough to be a defender of government-run health care.  The primary reason for that is because the government consistently makes the arguments of your opponents for them!  Take this article from the British Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/7908742/Axe-falls-on-NHS-services.html

The by-line reads:

"NHS bosses have drawn up secret plans for sweeping cuts to services, with restriction on the most basic treatments for the sick and injured."

Well, it's good that they're not restricting basic medical care; I'm sure they know that they can't without having a revolt on their hands.  However, there is one word to note in that by-line: SECRET.

According to the article, "The Sunday Telegraph found the details of hundreds of cuts buried in obscure appendices to lengthy policy and strategy documents published by trusts. In most cases, local communities appear to be unaware of the plans."

So the cutback on health services is made by burying the cuts in obscure documents.  What do the cutbacks entail?

  • Rationing of surgeries for the elderly, such as cataract surgery or hip replacements
  • Sending cancer patients home to die and making them responsible for their own pain management
  • A cutback on in-vitro fertilisation for couples looking to conceive
  • Thousands of job losses in health care fields that are already short-staffed
These are just some of the highlights - there is more in the original article.  All this is in an effort to create "efficiency savings" of 20 billion pounds by 2014.

This is the model the American government is trying to get the American people to accept?  It's no wonder that more than half the people in the US don't want government run health care!  Unfortunately the American government thinks it knows better than the people and is taking us down the same path to government-monopolised health care that can have its funding and services scaled back whenever the government feels like it, and in secret no less!