In the UK

In the UK

I'm in the UK on business this week. Although I hope not to have any firsthand encounters with the medical system I'm looking forward to checking out the local scene.

Had a flip through the Sunday Mail on the flight and there was very little in the way of health care business (or even policy) news --though plenty about Kate Moss and Lindsey Lohan.

There were a couple relevant letters to the editor: a patient who was upset that when he was “in hospital” (as they say) for a hip operation, the pharmacist took away the six asthma meds he'd brought with him and replaced them. The letter writer doesn't get it and neither do I. My guess is there's more to the story than that. Were the meds changed? Had they expired?

Another writer complains that the cost of prescribed pet medicines is 2x or 3x the French and Belgian rate and complains of the burden on pensioners. Vet biz is a racket in the US (check out the margins on diagnostics sometime) and sounds like here, too.