Editorial Board

Britain’s Unavoidable Health-Care Choice

Low taxes or free, high-quality medical services: Pick one.

January 9, 2018 at 7:00 AM UTC

By The Editorial Board

The Editorial Board publishes the views of the editors across a range of national and global affairs.

The NHS needs more than emergency treatment.
Photographer: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

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This article is part of the January 15, 2018 issue of businessweek.

Can a relatively low-tax country run a high-quality, taxpayer-funded health service that's free to all? Britain's National Health Service suggests the answer is no.

The NHS is good at some things but bad, bordering on disastrous, at others. Its great virtue is truly universal coverage, no questions asked -- and by international standards, the system is also cheap to run. As a result, though, it's perpetually short of money, and the service is erratic. Today the NHS is yet again dealing with a financial crisis and a surge of complaints about standards.