How refreshing it was to read Bryson's article which reminded us of the ethical foundations of the NHS and of what it achieves with comparatively modest expenditure.
The debates which preceded President Obama's reforms of American healthcare were often ill-informed and frequently ugly. Senator Grassley's statement, which Bryson quotes, was typical. I was in Washington DC in 2009, one month after Professor Stephen Hawking had received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. During a TV discussion, one contributor stated, in all seriousness, that ‘if Stephen Hawking lived in England and had to rely on British socialized medicine, he would not be alive today’.
Footnotes
Competing interests
None declared
References
1.
BrysonD. The grass isn't always greener. J R Soc Med2012;105:88–89
2.
LeathermanS, BerwickDM. The NHS through American eyes. BMJ2000;321:1545–1546
3.
AliAM. What is the objective of personal healthcare budgets?BMJ2012;344:31
