Death by MVNHS© [UPDATED]

Last time we looked, the Much Vaunted National Health System© was busy killing off 78 year old bladder cancer patient Kenneth Ward. Lest Mr Ward feel left out, here's news that he's far from alone:

"Nine in 10 local health trusts [ed: hospitals] in England are now rationing treatment for a range of operations including hip and knee replacements and cataracts removal."

This is nothing new, of course: last year, we noted that "[h]ip replacements, cataract surgery and tonsil removal are among operations now being rationed in a bid to save the NHS money." Still, these new numbers show why a single-payer system can never really sustain itself. As Bob mentioned last week, "true single payer eliminates private industry. The government decides how much to pay the provider and what services are expected. The British NHS works like this" and the fact that 90% of British hospitals engage in health care rationing of this magnitude simply underscore his point.

Defenders of single payer like to point out that they're more cost effective than a free-market model. Of course, it's easy to be cost-effective when providers "are denying treatment despite guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence that patients should receive it."

Meet the ultimate Death Panels.

UPDATE: Well, well, well - Thought we were exaggerating about those Death Panels? Think again:

"The NHS kills off 130,000 elderly patients every year ... NHS doctors are prematurely ending the lives of thousands of elderly hospital patients because they are difficult to manage or to free up beds ... Professor Patrick Pullicino said doctors had turned the use of a controversial ‘death pathway’ into the equivalent of euthanasia of the elderly."

But of course.