British Balance Benefit vs. Cost of Latest Drugs

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/health/03nice.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=british%20balance%20healthcare&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 10:28 AM
Subject: British Balance Benefit vs. Cost of Latest Drugs
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    The British Health Institute's decision to "spend the same amount saving or improving the life of a 75-year-old smoker as it would a 5-year-old" is important. While Americans might not arrive at the same conclusion, that conclusion would have to emerge from a conversation we have yet to begin. Currently, a majority of our healthcare budget is spent prolonging the last weeks of dying. I think that's a gross mis-use of our finite resources, but that's just my opinion. A rational healthcare plan for the nation must include a discussion of priorities.

Barry Levine