Re: Co-payment and the NHS

Palindrome wrote:
Alasdair wrote:
I notice a large article in todays Sunday Times about the government
policy on "co-payment". If a patient is being treated on the NHS for,
say, cancer and their doctor recommends a drug which the NHS does not
provide for economic reasons, that patient is not allowed to pay for
the additional drug personally.

The government argues that if this were allowed, it would create a two
tier NHS such that those who could afford the more expensive drugs
would have an unfair advantage over those who could not. The
government says either go totally private or take the NHS as it comes.

This means that if you are Lord Rolincash and can afford total private
treatment, that is OK. If you have nothing and totally rely on the
NHS for your treatment, that is also OK. However, if you have
moderate savings, you are not allowed to supplement what the NHS offer
with your own money. It seems totally crazy to me and many others.

Why? What NHS treatment you get isn't based on clinical need but on "quality of life adjusted year gained". Each year is valued at 30k.

I'd have thought that was a tad low, but we can argue about figures.

When I worked at BR we put cost of lives saved at £10M/ea which seemed awful high to me. By your figures £1M/live-saved would be a much more reasonable target - which was more mine :)

It isn't a question of the government "changing its mind". You do not get the best treatment that money can buy, as an NHS patient. But no government is willing to admit that.

Quite, but it's adequate.
.

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