Brickbat: Nip and Tuck

Bravissimos / Dreamstime.com

In the United Kingdom, the National Health Service is looking to eliminate or reduce several different surgeries to cut costs and reduce "unnecessary or risky procedures." The treatments NHS officials want to cut include tonsil removal and procedures for carpal tunnel syndrome, hemorrhoids, and varicose veins.

Comments

[Telcontar the Wanderer]

We're making progress!

[Will Nonya]

Healthcare for all! Except for you, or you and of course not you.

[Fuck you, Shikha (Nunya)]

But certainly for illegal aliens and refugees brought from thousands of miles away.

[perlchpr]

And when there's only one provider, and it says it's not providing a service, then officially, that service becomes unavailable at any price.

Fuck people who don't grasp the market.

[loveconstitution1789]

Of course these single payer scams destroy the free market for healthcare, so trying to get a decent price on ever-increasing medical procedures, that the state wont cover, is out-the-window.

[Brandybuck]

You look around the world and you see all these health care system that BAN and FORBID getting your healthcare from a private source with your own money. It's one thing if government won't pay for a service, but banning that service from the market entirely is beyond the pale.

And that's what people want here. They imagine they'll have the same choices but it will be paid for by the health care fairy, but they'll end up with euro-style bureaucracy that forbids choice.

[Dan S.]

It does say "halted or reduced" at one point, but the rest of the article says "cutting back on" and "tightening the criteria for". Sounds like "reduce" is the main focus.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Seems very rational.

[Adans smith]

So,their running out of other people's money. Didn't see that coming? so far what that socialist chick in New York thinks about this? I'm sure the press will get right on it.

[I am the 0.000000013%]

Back before we had socialized medicine in MN - perhaps 14 years ago, I had a meniscal tear. I was writing a blog at the time and one of the readers also had a meniscal tear. She lived in London and had been told a meniscal tear entitled her to palliative care, meaning she was given a cane and some advice. If I'm remembering right, this had been going on a couple of years when we started corresponding.

I tried to live with my creaky knee, but after a couple months it was just too annoying, so on a Monday I called my doctor in the morning. He got me in that afternoon and scheduled me for an MRI on Tuesday in a mobile MRI unit. Tuesday at 1pm I climbed into a semi-truck in a shopping mall parking lot and had my MRI. They confirmed I had a tear, contacted my doctor, and I made an appointment with a specialist for Wednesday afternoon. We had our appointment and scheduled my surgery for Thursday, and by Thursday afternoon my knee had been operated on, and it's still doing great today. I celebrated my 4th of July with 16 miles of hiking along Lake Superior.

I corresponded with my friend in London for a couple more years, and she was still using a cane and gulping aspirin when I last heard from her.

The people who let government into our health care system have a lot to answer for. They took a system that was amazing and made it 3rd world.

[Rhywun]

Yeah, but how many poor people had to die to make room to fix your knee, huh? Huh?

[I am the 0.000000013%]

Not a one.

My knee was fixed because of the extraordinarily rich football players that funded the development of knee surgery technology.

Thank god for the 1%

[loveconstitution1789]

Death panels at work.

They are just working their way up to cutting out life saving medical procedures. Testing the waters on procedures like Tonsillectomies.

[Fuck you, Shikha (Nunya)]

I'm hoping abortions are still covered. Can't have more of those fucks around.

[Longtobefree]

Thank God this is NOT rationing.
Repeat that 1,000 times, there is a character limit to free speech on this socialist site.
Now wander back in time (if Google will allow it) and find out what used to happen to children before tonsillectomies.
first it is free healthcare for all
then it is free healthcare for all except those who die waiting in line
then it is free healthcare for all except those who are "just" in pain
then it is free healthcare for all except those who could benefit from treatment, but will not die immediately without it
then it is free healthcare for all except those who live an unapproved lifestyle (sex change - OK, being fat not OK)
then it will free healthcare for all except those who are a bit too old
then it will free healthcare for all except those who are - - - - well, you can figure it out

[Jerryskids]

It seems pretty churlish to complain about the quality of the healthcare when it's free.

It's like going to a bar offering free drinks and complaining that the free drinks are shots of Budweiser. Oh, sure, there's a $100 cover charge just to get into the bar, but still - free drinks!

[Citizen X]

50% of each paycheck for unlimited shots of Beast and some light verbal abuse!

[Deconstructed Potato]

It's slightly misleading. If you really need it, you can still get it, but they need to make a show of "fiscal responsibility" etc. In recent years the NHS seems to have been really bad at managing it's budget, and so the militant socialists just yell "TORY CUTS! FASCISTS!" and divert attention from the problem which is essentially one of management, from what I understand. Resources are finite and must be managed for effective use. Or alrernatively, the magic money tree keeps bearing magical fruit, and free stuff forever!

[Brandybuck]

Because when you have government run health care then government bureaucrats will decide what treatments you will get. If you think this is a good thing then you've never seen the people working at the DMV.

[croaker]

This is your country on Obamacare. Any questions?

[cc2]

To say that carpel tunnel surgery is optional is to say that a person who could be 100% fixed for about $5000 per hand will have to remain a cripple.