There is word out of the UK that obese people and smokers may be denied “priority” care in the UK under potential new NHS standards. The idea, of course, is to induce people into more healthy lifestyles, which in turn, will collectively ease the cost of health care.
This is rationing and it is purely political. And because it is overtly and explicitly political, you can bet that people with unhealthy life styles that are not disdained by the media and ruling classes—such as promiscuous people who may get HIV or another STD—won’t be similarly punished for by denial of “priority” care (nor should they).
This gets to the heart of the unjustness of these kinds of schemes. Such political correctness can lead to people dying for want of medically appropriate treatment and it has absolutely no place in medicine or health care policy.
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