BRITISH HYPOCRISY

"Tony Blair's had his minor heart operation and is apparently in fine fettle, so good luck to him. Remarkable, though, how our leading politicians seem to get treated so quickly while the rest of us NHS patients have to wait.

"Unlike Tony, I'm still waiting for treatment," says Mickey Clark, the Markets Correspondent in London's Evening Standard newspaper today. "The Prime Minister and I are both 51 and suffer from irregular heartbeats. There the similarities end."

Clark was diagnosed last year and given drugs to thin his blood and hopefully to kick-start his heart. A date was set for and operation later that spring and an appointment with the cardiologist in July. But then an ECG showed his heart seemed to be beating normally so the treatment was postponed, as was the cardiologist appointment. Indeed, the cardiologist date has since been cancelled twice, so Clark won't be seeing the specialist until next February (unless he cancels again). "Compare that with Tony Blair, who was given [the treatment] the same weekend his complaint was diagnosed."

Quite. When defenders of state medicine say "we don't want a two-tier system," they should reflect that that is exactly what we've got."

From the Adam Smith blog.


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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation.

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