Europe to MVNHS©: More Rationing, Faster

To be fair, this one isn't entirely the doing of the MVNHS©:

"Patients face a significant increase in waiting times for operations as 'insane' European rules mean doctors' hours are cut so much medics will not be able to cope."

Recently, the British health service has been trying to cut wait times for patients, enjoying modest success in that endeavor. But "two steps forward, one step back" seems to be the order of the day, as new rules will limit "junior doctor's" work week, cutting them by some 15%. These new rules, called the European Working Time Directive [ed: insert punchline here], severely curtail how many hours physicians can work, and thus patients' access is reduced, as well.

Of course, when the gummint runs health care, these are the kinds of things that will happen, regardless of the consequences to the public. One might presume that our own providers would chaff under such a system, but I'm not convinced. In the event, this results in even less health care for our cousins Across the Pond:

"It means patients will have to wait months for routine operations as surgeons prioritise emergencies rather than scheduled cases."

These reductions translate into real lossses, since it's estimated that the average hospital will lose the equivalent of three interns. This is, of course, rationing of health care, which may well be necessary to reduce costs. The question is whether we'd be satisfied wth a system that essentially dictated how many hours a provider could work. That seems to be rather shortsighted.