Official: Healthy People Are A Drain On Resources

Simon Clark at Taking Liberties has been expanding on a Radio 4 appearance (or hearance?) today. The hour long programme on Julian Worricker's show can be found here.

One of the guests was Julian LeGrand, former health adviser to the Blair administration. He not only pissed on the chips of those who believe that an inclusive health care system should charge for those who enjoy 'unhealthy' lifestyles, he also laid to rest the myth that smokers, drinkers and the obese are actually costing us more than the 'healthy'. In fact, he seems to be banging the same drum as me. It's the opposite.



Let's just re-iterate what LeGrand said:

"It is true that, on the whole, healthy people cost the National Health Service, and indeed the pensions sector, rather more than unhealthy people."

Hallelujah! At last someone admits to what we all knew anyway. It's been whispered occasionally but never by someone with such connections.

Next time you read some Department of Health numpty, or charity, fake or otherwise, banging on about how much your choice of lifestyle costs the NHS, quote LeGrand. The MP3 file has plenty of bandwidth so knock yourselves out.