This is what a death panel looks like.
The NHS will not pay for expensive cancer drugs to extend life–effective for six months or so–as it pays for IVF for women up to age 42 and sophisticated artificial insemination for lesbians.
New and costly cancer drugs developed to extend the lives of patients are expected to be axed on Friday from an NHS list. Among the drugs NHS England is expected to “de-list” from the Cancer Drugs Fund is Kadcyla, which holds the record as the most expensive cancer drug brought to market, costing £90,000 annually per patient.
Kadcyla, made by Roche, was rejected from general NHS use by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), the body that assesses new medicines for their cost-effectiveness. Nice agreed the drug was effective for women whose advanced breast cancer no longer responded to Herceptin, but its chief executive, Sir Andrew Dillon, was outspoken about the “unacceptable” price tag.
This is the consequence of centralized control in which bureaucrats decide what should and should not be provided.
It is also the consequence of adopting a “quality of life” approach to healthcare, as opposed to an equality of life approach.
Also, it is the consequence of coverage inflation in which politically popular, but not strictly necessary procedures (which I call consumerist) are covered–squeezing budgets–leading to less coverage for unquestionably medical, non-elective procedures.
Oregon already rations healthcare in this manner under Medicaid, but never rations assisted suicide. What could be cheaper?
Obamacare patriarchs such as Ezekiel Emanuel also support healthcare rationing based on quality of life. So look for this same thing to go national here someday, unless the current trajectory is changed.