Angela French

[sarahrw23]

Exactly.... HMO's in the US have far more bureaucracy, and care far more about cost (and less about benefit) than any publicly run system.

[hauskalainen]

Going private for an operation in England means that you (or your private insurer) will be responsible for funding your own treatment and any follow up care including any drugs. This is only fair to those those who cannot afford to jump the line.

This lady wanted to jump the queue and then get the government to pay for her drugs. That is not fair.

She wasn't denied the drug! Just the funding by the government.

The rule is well known but some trusts turn a blind eye.

[hauskalainen]

I have a suspicion that this lady may have tried to buck the system. You cannot at the same time be a private patient AND an NHS patient for the same problem. If you opt to leave the NHS for a medical issue then you are on your own. You are expected to pay for your own medicines and follow ups or have them privately insured. She CHOSE to go private with her op so she has to be private on her follow up. People who buck the system can't have it both ways! Her daughter's advice was very costly.

[uttico00]

Australia also has government run health care

1. Life expectancy is longer there

2. Taxes are only slightly higher there (i.e. 24% for 65k/yr)

3. People are more likely to be denied by their health insurers in the US for life threatening conditions than Australians are to wait for care on a life threatening condition.

Smoke and mirrors. Who are these 'conservatives' really fighting for?

[hauskalainen]

Everyone is "going to die anyway"! Silly comment really. The NHS does pay for drugs if it extends quality of life AND meets the cost/benefit hurdle. As I understand it, the cost/benefit hurdle in the UK is much the same as that applied by US insurers. Sutent actually has now been approved in the UK and the NHS now does fund treatment with this drug in the right circumstances.