NICE - In Lewis and Real-time

I find it more than a little peculiar that the organization that C. S. Lewis painted as the height of evil in the novel That Hideous Strength was called N.I.C.E. (National Institute of Coordinated Experiments).

Pat Buchanan off-handedly notes in an online essay the following:

With “controlling costs” a primary goal of Obamacare, and half of all medical costs coming in the last six months of life, “rationed care” takes on a new meaning for us all.

London’s Telegraph reported Sunday that the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence, known by its Orwellian acronym NICE, intends to slash by 95 percent the number of steroid injections, such as cortisone, given to people who suffer severe and chronic back pain.

“Specialists fear,” said the Telegraph, “tens of thousands of people, mainly the elderly and frail, will be left to suffer excruciating levels of pain or pay as much as 500 pounds each for private treatment.” More>>>

If you have not read That Hideous Strength, I highly recommend you do so. Here is a recommendation you may consider worthwhile if you do not do so from me.