There will be a two-tier system, basic health care for the poor with long waiting lists etc etc and the rich will just pay for private health insurance.

LG – Actually, there has been a two-tier system for a long time now. You won’t discover this unless you want treatment for something which has a long waiting list, ie. rationing except that you are given an end date ( which can be put back as the date approaches).
For example, try getting a knee op or a hip replacement.

I did one time get a knee op via private insurance because of the long NHS wait list, and it was a real eye opener. It was all done and over with within a few weeks. The day that I first met the private consultant I also got all the tests, xrays, etc at the same time. No running back and forwards to the hospital for multiple appointments for tests. Just like going through a well-oiled machine with tea and biscuits as well. This same consultant also worked within the NHS, so ultimately my operation would have been the same on the NHS, but the overall ease of the experience was like night and day.

For our American friends I probably should explain that UK health insurance does not normally include the cost of drugs self- administered at home, which is different to the US. There are some exceptions, notably cancer drugs, but not hepC. So UK private health insurance is not much good for hepC. It will of course work for treatments you might need in a hospital, for which the underlying cause is hepC.

As far as UK private health insurance goes, it is getting increasingly expensive to get the kind of coverage that would be any good to you. When I was researching going to an Indian International hospital for hepC treatment I also got an eye opener, re the state of the art facilities, the superb training of some of the doctors, and the very affordable prices for all this. I think there are some instances where going to India might be the best option for treatment rather than either the NHS or UK private insurance – dental treatment for example, or anything which has a long wait list for which you feel you cannot wait. Of course, you need to be well enough to travel.

dt

Inequality looms darkly here, there and everywhere but when it concerns accessible healthcare it is more of a crime.

Inequality is a crime, period, and nowhere more than India which still practices the caste system, condemning people of low caste by virtue of their birth to be on the bottom rung of society.

Now we have the world economy struggling and the ones on the lower rungs struggling the most, such that this issue is front and centre with the US electorate in the run up to the presidential election, which will have vast repercussions on all of us in the rest of the world.

I think you are right LG. The current trends in healthcare in the UK are going nowhere good.

dt

A UK study has reviewed data from other trials to investigate benefits of increased coffee consumption in relation to cirrhosis risk. A significant participant number of >400k and shows a strong correlation between increasing coffee consumption by 2 cups per day and reduced risk.

http://hepatitiscnewdrugs.blogspot.com.au/2016/02/coffee-consumption-and-risk-of-cirrhosis.html

…….off to grind some more beans!

So here we have it again. The hepC cure is $900 in India, on the news. I can understand if a lot of people have not heard of fixhepc, but is there really anybody in a first world country who still has not heard that the cure is $900 in India?
So where are the fleets of medical charter flights going out to India? I am at a loss to understand it.
dt

I think there are people behind the scenes working very hard to get media attention – Not so easy to get mainstream media time when authorities like (eg) the Department of Health who would rather portray all HepC sufferers as ill due to a ‘lifestyle choice’ and therefore undeserving of any sympathy. Each little TV interview and press report has been achieved and won with the sheer hard work and efforts of those advocates that care and mainstream media is what gets public (and therefore patient) attention. The good news is, more influential & powerful people are now working behind the scenes, so there ‘should’ be more publicity.

Keep an eye out for Newsnight in the UK tomorrow night, hopefully there’ll be one such example. I say ‘hopefully’ because with Newsnight, even if something is scheduled to go out in advance, that days news could cancel it out if they think it’s deserving;
and lets face it, this Gvt have a penchant for bossing the BBC about to suit their political aims, so let’s hope David Camerons ‘adventures in Europe’ don’t scupper well laid plans. Fingers crossed hey