The case is not convincing
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I'm yet to be convinced that health 'inequality' as opposed to 'deprivation' is an issue for the government, this paper hasn't convinced me. Individuals in Glasgow Calton only living until their mid-50s is a social problem that we need to address, that those in Kensington and Chelsea live until their mid-70s is not.
The goal of improving access to health opportunities to improve the quantity and quality of life, particularly for those who lack such access, strikes me as eminantly sensible and liberal. Attempting to set targets such as reducing the inequality of life expectancy with no credible notion as to whether such a thing is possible or achievable strikes me as posturing.
The issue with such schemes is that if we raise life expectancy 10 years for those at the bottom through our programmes and yet the top inconveniently live 15 years longer, under health inequality targeting we will have failed, even though everyone is living longer. This is just daft. Worse than daft it's a failure that makes no meaningful difference to anyone other than the statistics department designed to collect the data.
It's as though every bad argument that has ever been advanced in the name of socialism as applied to inequality of wealth has been transferred wholesale into the health debate. Solutions premised on bad health socialism will be just as ineffective as those premised on the more traditional kind.
Can we please focus our health policies on delivering access to better health opportunties where it matters rather than setting the terms of the debate in an area that doesn't mean very much in respect of how ordinary people think about their health.
The goal of improving access to health opportunities to improve the quantity and quality of life, particularly for those who lack such access, strikes me as eminantly sensible and liberal. Attempting to set targets such as reducing the inequality of life expectancy with no credible notion as to whether such a thing is possible or achievable strikes me as posturing.
The issue with such schemes is that if we raise life expectancy 10 years for those at the bottom through our programmes and yet the top inconveniently live 15 years longer, under health inequality targeting we will have failed, even though everyone is living longer. This is just daft. Worse than daft it's a failure that makes no meaningful difference to anyone other than the statistics department designed to collect the data.
It's as though every bad argument that has ever been advanced in the name of socialism as applied to inequality of wealth has been transferred wholesale into the health debate. Solutions premised on bad health socialism will be just as ineffective as those premised on the more traditional kind.
Can we please focus our health policies on delivering access to better health opportunties where it matters rather than setting the terms of the debate in an area that doesn't mean very much in respect of how ordinary people think about their health.
I agree that targets are not very useful though they do help to assess the effectiveness of measures as long as not too many changes are made simultaneously.
We believe in empowering and in this context this means giving people the information and the resources to implement the changes for themselves. Thus vouchers for free fruit and vegetables for a period and access to organic food are acceptable. Also measures to make healthy food choices as cheap as fast food would help and this is where government can help. Accessibility is another area where government can assist.
Ultimately though it is up to individuals to decide to alter their habbits though a lot can be done to ease the way.
We believe in empowering and in this context this means giving people the information and the resources to implement the changes for themselves. Thus vouchers for free fruit and vegetables for a period and access to organic food are acceptable. Also measures to make healthy food choices as cheap as fast food would help and this is where government can help. Accessibility is another area where government can assist.
Ultimately though it is up to individuals to decide to alter their habbits though a lot can be done to ease the way.
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