Reading the Fillers

"Dreamkiller" John Frey, British Journal of General Practice, May 2007, Vol 57, No. 538, p424.

Reading the non-clinical opinion articles is probably what attracts many of us to open our journals - it's either that or the obituaries!

In "Dreamkiller", John Frey writes with US perspective on free health care. I have tended to link free access to high quality health care with poverty, believing that it is essential for low and no income families to be able to enjoy the same quality of care as their wealthier neighbours. My UK perspective has been shaped by Tudor Harts inverse care law.

Frey gives me a different point of view. The situation in the US actually prevents people from making other choices in life because if they move from an employer with health care cover to a different job without that cover, they will not be able to afford even basic health care insurance for them and their families. Moreover, it prevents people from taking early retirement because Medicare cover doesn't kick in until 64.5 years.