Drudge linked to another example of how the UK controls health care costs: old fashion rationing. In this instance, the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is seeking to limit the use of steroid injections to treat chronic lower back pain.
What I thought was most noteworthy about this article is the political process that was used to arrive at the new recommendations. As the Telegraph reports:
The NICE guidelines admit that evidence was limited for many back pain treatments, including those it recommended. Where scientific proof was lacking, advice was instead taken from its expert group. But specialists are furious that while the group included practitioners of alternative therapies, there was no one with expertise in conventional pain relief medicine to argue against a decision to significantly restrict its use.
So because acupuncture reps were on the panel, the group decided to slash the availability of traditional treatment and encourage more people to try “alternative” treatments. Surprise! When liberals make the case for government-control of health care and a government body recommending one treatment over another they always talk as though the enlightened bureaucrats would of course come down on the side of the best science, whatever that means. One can only believe that if you have never looked closely at how any other government program is administered.