A Small Amount of Choice

The British are trying something interesting—choice:

Elderly people will be given money to pay for their own care as part of a radical shake-up of the welfare system, Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, will announce today.

The new personal care budgets will give millions of pensioners and younger disabled people the power to decide what kind of care they want and where they buy it.Currently, elderly people are at the mercy of social workers who dictate the services they need to live in their own homes.

Under the new system, which will be introduced next April, older people or their families will set up bank accounts into which councils will pay a monthly sum.

Beneficiaries will be means-tested to assess their needs before they are able to shop around for the best “personal care” packages, which will include help with getting dressed or washed, meals on wheels, cleaning services and cooking.

But wait! Michael Moore said the NHS was wonderful! They certainly don’t need to moving closer to the evil bloodthirsty capitalist monstrosity in the United States. This sounds awfully similar to the HSAs and other voucher programs proposed by evil heartless Republicans who are in the pocket of the for-profit healthcare industry. And we all know that people are way too stupid to decide how to spend their healthcare money.

The world’s falling apart, I tells ya.