More rationing by government bureaucrats
August 6th, 2009 | by Brian Schwartz |Just in case you needed a reminder that having coverage does not mean getting the care you need, here’s one from the Daily Telegraph:
The Government’s drug rationing watchdog says “therapeutic” injections of steroids, such as cortisone, which are used to reduce inflammation, should no longer be offered to patients suffering from persistent lower back pain when the cause is not known.
Instead the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is ordering doctors to offer patients remedies like acupuncture and osteopathy.
Specialists fear tens of thousands of people, mainly the elderly and frail, will be left to suffer excruciating levels of pain or pay as much as £500 each for private treatment.
The NHS currently issues more than 60,000 treatments of steroid injections every year. NICE said in its guidance it wants to cut this to just 3,000 treatments a year, a move which would save the NHS £33 million.
But the British Pain Society, which represents specialists in the field, has written to NICE calling for the guidelines to be withdrawn after its members warned that they would lead to many patients having to undergo unnecessary and high-risk spinal surgery.
Sure people can give examples of insurance companies doing something similar. But which is preferable: having a monopoly insurance company that can deny treatment with no fear of losing revenue, or a competitive marketplace where insurers must compete for customers - based largely on their reputation for providing quality medical insurance?
(Via Doug Bandow)
tags: coverage is not care, rationing health care, UK health care
