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August 2, 2007
British Bureaucrats Nix Pain Medication
Posted by Dave Blount at August 2, 2007 8:32 PM
There is one good thing about socialized medicine: it teaches people to stop being pansies and take the pain. For example, the ominously named NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence), which controls which drugs will be available under Britain's socialized medicine regime, has decided that rheumatoid arthritis patients don't need abatacept, even though it has been shown to cause a dramatic improvement in 40% of patients with severe symptoms.
NICE bureaucrats have decreed that abatacept is not cost-effective. After all, issuing bullets for patients to bite on would have a fraction of the cost, freeing up tax money to pay administrative salaries.
In a free country, you get whatever medical care you're willing to pay for. Under socialism, you get what your bureaucratic masters see fit to give you. But at least it's free — meaning that you pay for it whether you use it or not.
On a tip from Bill.
