Democracy, healthcare and the modern era

As more and more of Europe moves towards multiparty politics, it is becoming increasingly common for coalition governments to decide healthcare policy. The results of the UK election will be known when this editorial is in print – but will it really make a difference to those practicing orthopaedic surgeons in the UK? It is somewhat ironic that the US healthcare economy is being pushed further towards an affordability model (with, amongst other initiatives, ‘Obamacare’ and reforms to insurance) whilst the NHS is being pushed ever so slowly towards a ‘free market’ approach – potentially repeating the mistakes of our American cousins. There can never be such a thing as ‘market forces’ in state-funded healthcare. The …