One of the advantages of socialized medicine: You can keep costs down by rationing that thing that people think is a right, but apparently is not.
Link: Telegraph: NHS provokes fury with indefinite surgery ban for smokers and obese
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BTW, a BMI of 30 would exclude more than 70% of the posters on this board.
1) Claim a service is a right, and then nationalize that service because it cannot be trusted to the private sector.
2) Selectively ration the service because, as it turns out, it is not actually a right.
The Left is all about equality of status. On a scale of 1-10, a free market system would take a healthcare system from an initial range of 3-6 up to an improved range of 6-9...the rising sea of capitalism lifts up all boats. But the Left hates that because the range still exists. They see unfairness, and they ignore the improved quality all around. So, they say they will take a system from a range of 6-9, and make it 9's all around...but they will actually take it to 6's all around, and then down to 3's all around (except for the powerful will always be able to get their 9-level healthcare).
They ignore that they are pushing the Soviet model. All citizens of the USSR were guaranteed food, medical care and housing...those were explicitly itemized rights in the USSR constitution...and anyone who looks at history knows how that turned out...everything was equally crappy. And yet, it wasn't even equal, as the government starved people on purpose, and the politically powerful still got good food, healthcare and housing. The only difference is that the politically powerful get the extra benefits instead of the successful ("you didn't build that") capitalists.