You Can't Make This Kind of Crap Up

So it seems Obama's new appointee to head up Medicare/Medicaid Donald Berman has much in common with Sir Mick Jagger. (Please refer to blog below for more on this.) It is proudly proclaimed in his CV on his organization's website (given the Orwellian misnomer of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement): "In 2005, he was appointed “Honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire” by the Queen of England in honor of his work with the British National Health Service." How very N.I.C.E. -- as exampled in the following reportage:

"Cancer Groups to Appeal against NICE’s Decision to Rule out Use of Vidaza

The Cancer groups are going to appeal against a declaration made by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which will deny the NHS patients in England and Wales an access to a drug called Vidaza, which is used for the treatment of bone marrow diseases.(...)"

and

"Tens of thousands of NHS workers could be sacked and thousands of hospital beds lost under plans outlined by strategic health authorities, it was reported.

The plans could also see procedures such as hip replacements scrapped and patients encouraged to email doctors rather than visit surgeries, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Proposals were drawn up by the 10 English strategic health authorities for productivity and efficiency savings.

The plans come after NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson spoke of the need to make between £15 and £20 billion in productivity efficiency savings over three years. The Department of Health said it was "committed to protecting the NHS frontline". But the Telegraph has seen documents from SHAs which show how the cuts could fall on hospital services."