National Institute For Health And Care Excellence Rejects Aged-based Proposal

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) in the UK has rejected a plan from health ministers that would provide drugs to citizens based on a tiered system, where individuals who contribute the most to the economy have the first priority on drugs and access to medical treatments. Sir Andrew Dillion, who is currently the head of the institution, stated that he believes the plan would keep drugs and healthcare from elderly citizens who need medical treatment. Instead, healthcare would be provided to younger citizens under the plan who would be deemed bigger contributors, or bigger potential contributors, to the economy.

The plan originated as a response to the Department of Health’s request for Nice to look at potential ways to become more cost-effective in the area of medicines and treatments. Allowing people to return to the workforce is a goal of the Department and would be seen as beneficial to the economy. Nice has no plans to factor age into drug or treatment availability, in a move Sir Andre Dillion said had a social impact. “This wider societal impact is such a sensitive issue. You can do it in a hard-nosed economic way, which is the department's calculation, but our sense is the wider public see wider societal impact as being more subtle than that. We're really concerned that we don't send out the message that we value life less when you're 70 than we do when you're 20. You might be doing all sorts of very useful things for your family or local society. That's what we are worried about and that's the problem with the Department of Health's calculation.”

Source: http://www.channel4.com/news/nice-assessment-elderly-health-drugs-rejected-contribution