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British Medical Bulletin 51:761-768 (1995)
© 1995 The British Council

research-article

Why rationing is on the agenda

R J Maxwell

Chief Executive, King's Fund, 11–13 Cavendish Square London WIM 0AN, UK

Abstract

The National Health Service Act of 1946 set out to provide a comprehensive health service, free at the point of use, to the whole population of the UK.1 The purpose-as Nye Bevan, then Minister of Health, put it-was to ensure that nobody should be denied, on the grounds of lack of means, ‘the best that medical skill can provide’2 Among the many fears about the Act voiced at the time, the idea that the State would not be able to afford it was not one. Indeed, that wise man William Beveridge had even mistakenly assumed, in the wartime White Paper on Social Security, that good health care would ultimately save money for the State, once an initial backlog of neglect had been made good, and that the cost of health insurance would then fall.3


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