bengoldacre - secondary blog

ben goldacre witters on and on and on about things that are too long to post on twitter and not clever enough to post on his main blog at www.badscience.net

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    The #NHSbill will make patients pay for things they currently get for free: Lancet

    Why are the government so keen to push through the NHS bill, when their own arguments in support of it just don't seem to make sense? This in the Lancet argues that the NHS bill paves the way for patients paying for things they currently get for free. A bit like dentistry. Just don't let yourself look back from 2020 and say this wasn't mentioned in 2012.

    The Government's continued insistence on its structural changes and its failure to provide an adequate account of why they are necessary confirms concerns that the policy rationale has not been fully disclosed. The Government says that its changes are “vital”.3 But this is only the case if the object is to create a system that permits alternative funding sources for services currently provided free as part of the NHS. These amendments do not affect the heart of the policy behind the Bill, which is to introduce a mixed financing system and to abolish the model of tax-financed universal health care on which the NHS is based.

    http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2812%2960246-3/fulltext

    Previously:

    Emergency NHS bill summit to discuss giving more power to GPs... excludes GPs

    http://bengoldacre.posterous.com/who-is-and-is-not-invited-to-camerons-emergen

    Politicians ties to companies that will profit from NHS bill

    http://socialinvestigations.blogspot.com/2012/02/nhs-privatisation-compilatio...

    • 20 February 2012
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    3 months ago _masqueraid (Twitter) responded:
    Masqueraid_pe_normal
    "a bit like dentistry", true but dentistry hasn't been free at the point of delivery since 1951.

    Charges for dentures were introduced as the Treasury hadn't anticipated the demand for NHS false teeth from a population who previously had only access to private dental services and who, to save costs, had elected to have their teeth removed rather than pay for them to be fixed. Rationing of health services by introducing contributory costs is nothing new some honesty from the Government that rationing of care is a fact of life would be.

    3 months ago WordShore (Twitter) responded:
    6063715486_bc156147cf_z_normal
    Yesterday's Dilbert, in an abstract way, appears to be somewhat prophetic.

    http://dilbert.com/2012-02-19/

    3 months ago tweetcmw (Twitter) responded:
    C60ec608-5266-452a-95e9-dbeedd36bb01_normal
    The question is: should care be rationed according to need or ability to pay? Even the relatively affluent may live to regret privatisation. In the US, 75% of bankruptcies caused by medical bills involve those WITH health insurance. 60m go without. 30% of the cost goes on admin./billing/advertising - which is why Americans spend more than twice as much per capita for much less. The profit motive encourages over-treating the wealthy and neglecting the poor. Unless you can afford a gold-plated policy - and can defend any claim in court - you will have to live in permanent anxiety of falling ill.

    For all its faults the NHS has provided an adequate standard of healthcare for most people most of the time far more efficiently than the private sector in the US (see both the Commonwealth Fund and OECD for comparative analysis). And yet, that is precisely the model the coalition are following (egged on by the horde of private sector lobbyists who fund their campaigns).

    3 months ago jomtaylor responded:
    jomtaylor
    Dentist charges are exorbitant as it is. I couldn't afford the dentist charges so had to have 3 teeth extracted and now I am stuck with a plate which doesn't fit so well and feels very unnatural when I know that the teeth could have been put onto a smaller wire type device or I could have had other options. I could not get anything else done as I am not unemployed and don't qualify for free dental treatment.

    The NHS, for all it's faults, is so much better than the American healthcare system and we should defend it with all our might!

    3 months ago John Keogh liked this post.

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    I like stats. I'm a doctor. I write about dodgy scientific claims in my spare time.

    This isn't my main blog. Find me here:

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  • About Ben Goldacre

    I like stats. I'm a doctor. I write about dodgy scientific claims in my spare time.

    This isn't my main blog. Find me here:

    Blog:
    www.badscience.net/

    Book:
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Science-Ben-Goldacre/dp/000728487X/?tag=bs0b-21

    Tweet:
    www.twitter.com/bengoldacre

    TED talk:
    http://www.ted.com/talks/ben_goldacre_battling_bad_science.html

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