Top hats and top-ups: better health for the better off
The health secretary announced today that patients in the UK who choose to buy medicines not funded by the national health service, will no longer be excluded from receiving public health care. This announcement follows controversy about expensive cancer drugs that are available in other countries, but may not be available under the NHS.
Given that private healthcare is available in the UK (and overseas) for those who are able to pay for it, it seems unreasonable to punish patients who choose to spend their money on cancer drugs by denying them access to the public health system for part of their care. (See here, and here for previous blogs on this topic).
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