Annals of Government Dentistry

Socialized medicine has long been a chief goal of the Democratic Party, but it is hard to understand why anyone would voluntarily entrust his family’s health care to the tender mercies of any government, even the most benign. We have tracked the United Kingdom’s experience with socialized medicine in our “Annals of Government Medicine” series, and I wrote here about the current crisis in British dentistry: nine out of ten National Health Service dentists’ offices won’t take any new patients. And British dentistry, like European dentistry in general, was nothing to write home about in the first place.

The Telegraph has the latest on Britain’s dental crisis:

Patients should go to the dentist every two years instead of at six-month intervals, under new plans suggested by NHS England.

Can’t get in to see a dentist? Socialist solution: Give it up! Don’t try!

MPs were warned the NHS was “disincentivising” dentists from taking on new patients under the current contract and patients were increasingly turning to “DIY dentistry” as they struggled to access care.

NHS dentists are essentially government employees, operating under a government-imposed contract that, as we wrote previously, makes it pointless to take on any new patients. To every government-caused problem there is a government-proposed solution that rarely involves changing the policies that caused the problem in the first place.

And “do it yourself dentistry” is a frightening concept. Are we talking about 6 or 10 shots of whiskey and a pair of pliers, as in the 19th century West? There is no link to elucidate the point.

Liberals say that health care is too important to be left to market forces. I say health care is too important to be left to anything but market forces.

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