Britain moves away from centralized heathcare, wants free market solutions.

Oh wow.

Hey look all you single payer lovers.....even Britain has finally realized what a crap system it is and that it is unsustainable in it's current form.

Unfunny irony in Britain's healthcare system.

As the focus here in the U.S. becomes more government involvement in your healthcare and running it, in Britain they are writing new rules to reduce the damage done by socialized medicine.

Hospital patients in England will get the legal right to be seen privately if they face NHS delays.

Hospitals have to start treating patients within 18 weeks of referral - or two weeks in the case of cancer. But ministers will now give patients a legal right to private care - or treatment at another NHS centre if so desired - if this does not happen.

In an effort to reign in out of control wait times-often more than 18 weeks-the government is now set to amend the NHS Constitution which give people the right to seek private treatment if the NHS cannot meet a reduced wait time goal. The irony of government regulations causing a need for more government regulation. While these new guarantees may be written and the intention behind them is certainly honorable, there is no doubt that writing it down does nothing to alleviate the real problem-there are too many people in a system that is unsustainable and going broke. For those loving the idea of single-payer, please tell me what about waiting 18 weeks or more to begin treatment is better than what we have now?

In Britain they're getting 'state spying' databases for all your activity

Oh great. So once Net Neutrality-which is completely unnecessary-goes through, we can look forward to this.

All telecoms companies and Internet service providers will be required by law to keep a record of every customer's personal communications, showing who they are contacting, when, where and which websites they are visiting.

Despite widespread opposition over Britain's growing surveillance society, 653 public bodies will be given access to the confidential information, including police, local councils, the Financial Services Authority, the Ambulance Service, fire authorities and even prison governors.

They will not require the permission of a judge or a magistrate to access the information, but simply the authorisation of a senior police officer or the equivalent of a deputy head of department at a local authority.

What? Me worry? Why would I be concerned that a) we're going to be next and b) that the government would abuse this information under the guise of needing it for something else?