Should Health Screening be Private?

Jim Thornton

Institute of Economic Affairs, £5.60, pp 78

ISBN 0255364512

Rating:

The NHS should stop screening for breast and cervical cancer. Indeed, the NHS should offer screening only in very limited circumstances, such as for adults only when the screening is of undisputed cost effectiveness and these adults could not otherwise afford it. Jim Thornton reaches these controversial conclusions largely because of his belief that consumers are the only people able to judge whether the benefits of screening outweigh the potential side effects. One consequence …