Rishi Sunak suffers blow to his authority as 57 of his own MPs vote against his plan and over 100 abstain
  • steeznson@lemmy.world
    11·
    8 months ago

    My dad was a doctor for decades, working in oncology, and he was noticing that NHS budgets were struggling with so many people not dying of smoking related diseases.

    If people live longer then they end up developing more complex diseases and degenerative conditions which are even more expensive for the NHS; requiring round the clock care, etc.

    • mannycalavera
      4·
      8 months ago

      If imagine your dad would have wanted people to live longer healthier lives due to not smoking and being fitter rather than longer unhealthy lives with complications at a later age due to smoking.

      Or did he just want people to die younger to reduce the burdon on the NHS budget? Something tells me that’s not what he would have wanted 😅.

      • steeznson@lemmy.world
        1·
        8 months ago

        It would be nihilistic to encourage smoking just because it saved the NHS money. He was just pointing out that there was an irony that people who died younger ended up taking less out of the NHS than those who lived longer, healthier lives.

        Edit: I guess there are other examples of paradox like situations in public policy too. For example it is good for the individual if they save money but bad for the economy as a whole. Having too many savers can lead to a situation like Japan where people immediately save any economic stimulus they are given, so it doesn’t stimulate the wider economy.