Findings about the impact of a course of heavy-duty cuts on life expectancy make grim reading The quack doctors rolled into town just as the global economy had come off the critical list. It was 2009 and the message from the austerity medicine show was simple: the only way back to full health was a course of heavy-duty cuts. Expert opinion was divided. There were other diagnoses available. There were economists who said austerity was the equivalent of going back to the days of blood-letting – but they lost the argument. The prescription, though it varied a bit from country to country, was pretty much the same across the developed world: get those budget deficits down. Under Greece's bailout, health spending fell from 9.8% of GDP in 2008 to 8.1% in 2014 Continue reading...
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