[gaius]

he fact that this was an issue for more than five minutes is absurd and cannot be used as an indictment against public systems.

We also have issues with prescription abuse, such as people getting prescriptions filled who no longer need them, and don't take them anyway. The NHS tried to fix this by printing the real cost of the drug on the label, so people would be aware of the waste. But they had to stop because it was making people who genuinely needed the drugs feel guilty about how much it was costing. No easy answers to this, but something will need to happen because as I say, it is simply taken for granted by so many people.

Unfortunately, the NHS is something of a "sacred cow", any criticism no matter how evidence based of it is seen as a heinous blasphemy. Which means its problems are always brushed under the carpet and will never be fixed. "The envy of the world", we're told, but I doubt the French or the Germans or the Canadians or the Japanese or any number of other nations are envious of it!