Socialized Medicine = Healthcare Rationing in Britain

Milton Friedman famously observed that if you put Big Government in charge of the Sahara Desert, within 5 years it would run a shortage of sand. What would happen if you let statist bureaucrats take over the healthcare system? Britain shows us:

A survey of GPs [general practitioners] has found that many agree restrictions are being placed on access to replacement hips and knees, hernia and cataract operations and infertility treatment.

They say NHS [National Health Service] managers are rationing treatment as they try to cut costs, with patients facing a postcode lottery across the country as to whether or not they are seen.

As with all government solutions, denying service is at best a short-term fix.

…failing to treat problems early, in a short-term bid to save money, can lead to bigger bills when patients’ health worsens, they warn.

London GP Chaand Nagpaul (doctors in England tend not to have English names anymore) notes another symptom of government involvement:

“We are seeing significant postcode variation, which is not compatible with the Government’s commitment to provide equitable access to healthcare.”

Given Comrade Obama’s willingness to declare war on Arizona, Texas, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Alabama, what are the odds red states will get the same quality healthcare as the deep blue Northeast as ObamaCare congeals?

The government has also been rationing MRI and CT scans, essential diagnostic tools that reveal serious problems at early stages, when they can still be dealt with.

In vitro fertilization has been withheld as well. Why should the taxpayer have to help a childless couple conceive? Yet for the couple in question, having a child might mean all the world. In a free country, they might work hard and save for years for the medical assistance required. In a socialist country like the UK, they either get it at someone else’s expense, or they don’t get it at all, depending upon the whims of bureaucrats. Private dreams mean nothing in a collectivist society.

On a tip from Don. Cross-posted at Moonbattery.

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