Britain Targets Disapproved Groups for Denial of Healthcare

Resources are limited. Legislation can’t change that. That’s why “free” healthcare means rationed healthcare. The rationing will begin with those whose lifestyles do not comply with health-promoting guidelines. For example, smokers and people who are overweight will be denied medical care. Don’t believe me? Look to Britain:

The NHS will ban patients from surgery indefinitely unless they lose weight or quit smoking, under controversial plans drawn up in Hertfordshire. …

In recent years, a number of areas have introduced delays for such patients – with some told operations will be put back for months, during which time they are expected to try to lose weight or stop smoking.

But the new rules, drawn up by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in Hertfordshire, say that obese patients “will not get non-urgent surgery until they reduce their weight” at all, unless the circumstances are exceptional.

The criteria also mean smokers will only be referred for operations if they have stopped smoking for at least eight weeks, with such patients breathalysed before referral.

Patients are refused referrals before they can even see specialists who are in a position to determine the urgency of surgery.

As Guy Benson observes,

When the government controls your healthcare, they control you.

Next surgery will be denied those who cannot prove they have complied with official calisthenics regimens, calling to mind the exercises Winston Smith had to go through in 1984.

Beyond control, socialized medicine will also have the effect of reinforcing the progressive caste system. In Cuba, top-tier party members enjoy good healthcare; not so with regular folks. Given the liberal obsession with political correctness and race, it is not hard to imagine a day when you have to prove African ancestry to get the surgery you need on a timely basis — unless of course you work for the government.

On a tip from J.