Thanks for the reply.
Yes, you are correct that there have been accusations and controversies over denied operations and drugs. My point was more about the general denying of medical care to British people.
My point was that the NHS by definition are duty bound not to turn anyone away. The NHS for example will deal every weekend with hundreds of drunken idiots who clog the A&E depts all over the country, and whose ‘illness’ is nothing but too much booze and and copious vomit. Or idiots who turn up at hospital expecting treatment for a cut finger or a sore throat when there are much sicker/injured people.
Certainly, there IS a problem with NICE in England denying drugs on the NHS due to ‘cost’. Not so bad in Scotland, Wales and NI.
Yes, I will admit there are cases where care has allegedly been denied, my myth remark was aimed at the (American) myth that the NHS operates now as a deathpanel healthcare system.
That certainly IS a myth. I will admit there are problems, but it is far from being a deathcare system or death panel NHS as claimed by many here.
But at the same time, your reply highlights a weakness in the system. The a&e departments do get "clogged up" by drunks and wasters and idiots who can't use a plaster, but the reason they do that is because they do not have to pay for the treatment (or rather, not pay for it directly). People abuse the system because there is no downside to doing so.