Adventures in Gov't-Run Health (S)care: In Britain, Death by 10,000 Cuts

Vocal Minority ^ | 3/28/10 | EricTheRed

[EricTheRed_VocalMinority]

Rhetoric: “In Britain, the government itself runs the hospitals and employs the doctors. We’ve all heard scare stories about how that works in practice; these stories are false. Like every system, the National Health Service has problems, but over all it appears to provide quite good care …”
— Paul Krugman, NY Times, August 17, 2009

Reality: Earlier today I posted some quotes on the failure of the U.K.’s government-run health (s)care system. Little did I know that on Friday the London Daily Telegraph had some disappointing news on the Britain’s system. Noel Sheppard at NewsBusters reports:

In the same week Democrats forced unwanted healthcare reform down America’s throat, internal documents surfaced across the Pond showing plans for massive budget cuts at Great Britain’s National Health Service.

“The sick would be urged to stay at home and email doctors rather than visit surgeries, while procedures such as hip replacements could be scrapped,” the Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

“Documents show that health chiefs are considering plans to begin sacking workers, cutting treatments and shutting wards across the country.”

The Telegraph said such cuts would lead to (h/t Weasel Zippers):

10 per cent of NHS staff being sacked in some areas. The loss of thousands of hospital beds. A reduction in the number of ambulance call-outs. Medical

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