Telegraph- NHS care hit by more rationing

If I am stuck in Obamacare, I am hoping this rationing over here comes on fast. Then all the whiners expecting free healthcare are going to find out the cost of government run healthcare.

The health service is struggling to save £20 billion over four years and a growing number of treatments are being restricted. Even essentials such as cataract surgery are being withheld in some areas, experts said.

When a primary care trust refuses to fund treatment, GPs or other doctors can make an “individual funding request” on behalf of the patient and this is looked at by a panel of experts.

A series of Freedom of Information Act requests has revealed that such requests increased by a fifth between 2010/11 and 2011/12.

In England there were 85,200 requests last year, GP magazine found. As the number of requests has risen, the proportion approved has fallen, from 59 per cent in 2008/09 to 55 per cent in 2011/12.

In some areas doctors have to request special funding for one in every 200 patients while in others it is just one in 11,000.