James: Why Would Anyone Wants A "Less Fair" NHS?
11 January 2017, 11:29 | Updated: 11 January 2017, 11:33
James asks this caller why she's being a "lemming" - asking for what the LBC presenter believes would be a less fair NHS.
Smokers and obese people in some areas could be refused surgery and IVF treatments in a bid to save NHS cash, something that the caller Jo backs.
She's had several major surgeries on the NHS but was told she'd have to lose weight in order to have necessary breast reconstruction surgery. Despite that, she backed the decision to turn her down.
"You realise this is not specific to your condition?" James asked. "This is absolutely everybody who smokes and absolutely everybody whose weight is over an arbitrary body mass index level, gets told they can't get treated, no matter how much money they've paid into the NHS.
"They might have paid in a hundred times more than you have, but they can't have an operation."
Jo responded: "I suppose the system isn't fair."
James: "The system's brilliantly fair at the moment because everybody gets treated the same. You're ringing me to tell me why you think it should be made less fair.
"Let's be clear about what it is: I want a less fair NHS James."
After the call wrapped up, James summed it all up: "There you have it, the sound of a lemming live on the radio, voting for the cliffs."
