Rationing: NHS and the ACA

Perhaps a closer examination of the NHS is worth the effort. As the Guardian reports:

Intolerably long waiting times to see a GP have become a national disgrace that could endanger people’s health, the leader of Britain’s family doctors has warned. Increasingly unacceptable waits for an appointment risk illnesses not being spotted quickly enough and chances to prevent them being missed, said Dr Maureen Baker. The chair of the Royal College of GPs spoke out as NHS figures showed that one in six patients have to wait at least a week before they see a GP or practice nurse. A total of 58.9 million patients in England are set to have waited for a consultation for a week or more by the end of 2014, up almost 50% from the 40m who waited that long during 2012, according to a new RCGP analysis of data from NHS England’s six-monthly GP patient survey. “These devastating statistics show that waiting times are now a national disgrace and that the situation is set to get even worse over the year ahead,” Baker said.

This should be a warning for the effective rationing we will see in the next two years.