British doctors decry healthcare rationing

Four out of five British doctors say patient care suffered in 2011 as a result of cuts to Great Britain's government-run healthcare system, according to a new poll from the left-leaning Guardian newspaper.

Conservative groups in the United States quickly disseminated the findings to bolster their arguments against European-style socialized medicine — and, by extension, President Obama's healthcare reform law. 

The polled doctors cited "hospital bed closures, pressure to give patients cheaper, slower-acting drugs, cuts to occupational health support, and reductions in community health services as examples of recent cost-cutting measures," according to The Guardian. The cuts to healthcare funding are part of conservative Prime Minister David Cameron's efforts to reel in the nation's deficit.

Great Britain has the most socialized medical system in Europe, with doctors working directly for the National Health Service. Obama's healthcare law, by contrast, creates new requirements for health insurance plans while expanding Medicaid and giving citizens subsidies to buy private coverage.