Check out an article in The Straits Times (Singapore) about rationing of this vital treatment by the socialized National Health Service in the United Kingdom, based on a story in The Times of London. Hat tip to Ed Driscoll at Instapundit for the link. The key quote:
The Times newspaper said a survey by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCO) found tens of thousands of elderly people are left struggling to see because of an NHS cost-cutting drive that relies on them dying before they can qualify for cataract surgery.The take-away from this story is the rationing of treatment to which all single-payer systems resort to reduce costs. In an unrelated story out today, Briton Mick Jagger came to the U.S. to have his recent successful heart surgery.
Canadians who want their bad knees fixed often come to the States, too. Canadian single-payer views bad knees as not life-threatening, thus highly deferrable and elective. We Americans really need to avoid going to a single-payer system.
