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The scale of the burden
Posted by Heather on December 27th, 2006
Great Britain is reminding me and more of Nazi Germany.
Smokers, people with alcohol problems and the obese could be denied priority treatment on the NHS if they do not try to change their lifestyle.
The Cabinet is discussing the controversial idea as part of a drive by Tony Blair to secure his domestic political legacy by pushing through a final round of public service reforms before he departs next year.
Ministers will confront a panel of 100 ordinary people with some of the “tough choices” facing the Government under a consultation exercise giving the public a direct say in the new policies. One question will be whether people whose lifestyle makes them ill should get the same priority as other patients. This would mean changing NHS guidelines saying that people should not be discriminated against “even if their illnesses are to some extent self-inflicted”.
That’s the price a society pays when it chooses socialized health care. While it’s always good to seek ways to cut back on unhealthy habits such as smoking and drinking and eating too much, it’s quite another to deny care to the very people who will most likely need it most. It makes more sense to demand these people pay a higher tax for their health care needs of the future.
British health care is already sub standard to start with. This will make it even more so.
A Cabinet review group on public services was shocked by the scale of the burden caused by people’s lifestyles. “Ministers were shocked by the fact that half of all years of healthy life are lost as a result of behavioural factors (e.g. smoking and diet),” a Government source said.
Ministers want a “cultural change” in public services so the state can support and encourage people to change their behaviour to improve their life chances and well-being.
They also want to extend the number of “contracts” between the citizen and the state, such as the £30-a-week education maintenance allowances paid to over-16s who remain in further education.
Key word here: STATE. Government control. Contracts. Not mentioned anywhere: Freedom. Personal choice.
Will those who engage in unsafe sexual practices (homosexuals!!) be threatened? What about people who work in industries known to cause health risks?
Experts warned this month that obesity, which costs the NHS £7bn a year, could bankrupt it if left unchecked and predicted that the proportion of obese adults would rise from one in five to one in three by 2010. Smoking-related diseases cost an estimated £1.7bn a year, with the same amount spent on alcohol-related problems. The treatment of alcohol-related harm, such as violent crime and traffic accidents, costs an estimated £20bn.
Tax the people more to cover the expenses the “unhealthy” people place upon this failed system. Otherwise, follow the American model. It works better. No one is discriminated against. And everyone is left with personal autonomy. As an added bonus, people who find problems with their health and TRY to get in to see a doctor for advice and perhaps needed treatment won’t have to wait months and even years…by the time many get in for an exam their problems have developed into serious and life threatening illnesses. THIS costs the people of GB more money than anything else.
Britain, like many European states, is seeking to cut costs of their socialized programs by cutting off entire groups of people from being eligible for the programs. Killing off disabled babies; aborting potential disabled babies; legalizing doctor assisted suicide among depressed people vs. getting them MUCH needed, and expensive, mental health services…there’s a trend here and it’s not good for humanity. In a dream world everyone would be perfect- we would all be healthy and never have problems. But, we’re human and SO far, the Nazi vision of a perfect world hasn’t managed to come to be. If Europe continues down the path it is heading, it will be a Nazi like place.
December 29th, 2006 at 7:17 am
Godwin violation alert!
December 29th, 2006 at 10:51 am
perhaps if you worked in the NHS and saw how desparately hard we who work in it are working then you might sing a different tune.
i work in one of the most expensive per-patient parts of the NHS -intensive care. i have grown troubled by the fact we struggle to care for young patients who may stand a chance and grow up to contribute to society because instead we a devoting a huge part of our efforts towards people with self-inflicted chronic diseaes that they were warned about and that will not get better
no matter what you say health resources are not (and cannot be) unlimited -even private ones
more people will die if you only consider individuals. un-sustainable rising health costs are one of the biggest problems in America
i do agree with some of what you say -i too have no trouble with putting the taxes up even further on cigarettes double if you like or on fast food
BTW do you know how much tax we pay in the UK already? we pay ~$9.50 for a pack of cigarettes
does all this mean that you are a fat, smoking, alcoholic?
December 29th, 2006 at 11:42 am
David, I am not a fat smoking drunk. Far from it.
I take care of patients who are injured mostly due to their own stupidity- drunk driving accidents and the like. Because they were drunk, does not mean they deserve lower quality care.
Your mindset speaks to the socialist systems of Europe- where a life is valued only if it meets certain criteria.
I thank Gad everyday for America.
December 29th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
raven,
apologies, the last comment might have been a joke too far -please take it as tongue in cheek, i enjoy a good debate
i don’t view my views as socialism -far from it, at the end of the day money has to come from somewhere to pay for health care
-i want to live in a country where individuals have a right to persue their own aspirations without being taxed to death to support other people who haven’t thought ahead/don’t work hard/can’t be bothered to do so themselves
-if you spend it all your taxpayers dollars on severely ill premature babies (a la Charlotte Watt), alocholics and on 80 year olds who keep smoking then your economy will collapse -you will then have to invade oil-rich Arab countries and set up oil-extraction ‘development’ programs to sustain yourself
-if people would like to pay for private health care by getting a good job and setting aside some cash for later life instead of spending it on booze and cigs then that is fine by me
-if they don’t that is also fine, but stop asking me to pay other people’s way in life
-can you explain to me what is the ‘American’ way is, i’m not saying people deserve a lower level of care but i’m not sure how you propose that society will look after itself