In an earlier post, I mentioned Dr. Donald Berwick, our new head of Medicare and Medicaid, and a self-proclaimed fan of the UK’s NHS. 


Just came across an Investor’s Business Daily report that highlights some of the new guidelines for the NHS in a London Telegraph story


Here are a few tidbits:


 *Plans to cut hundreds of thousands of pounds from budgets for the terminally ill, with dying cancer patients to be told to manage their own symptoms if their condition worsens at evenings or weekends.


* Restrictions on some of the most basic and common operations, including hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery and orthodontic procedures.


* The closure of nursing homes for the elderly.


* A reduction in acute hospital beds, including those for the mentally ill, with targets to discourage GPs from sending patients to hospitals and reduce the number of people using accident and emergency departments.


* Tighter rationing of NHS funding for IVF treatment, and for surgery for obesity.


Investor’s Business Daily comments: “If that’s a portent of things to come in the U.S. under ObamaCare, then a lot of people are going to owe apologies to Sarah Palin.”


 Palin provoked outrage for insisting that U.S. health reform system would lead to what she called death panels.