'Lifestyle patients' drugs call

27 November 2012 Last updated at 05:43 ET

A Conservative MP, who is a practising GP, has suggested those with medical conditions caused by their lifestyle may have to make a contribution to their healthcare costs in the future.

Dr Phillip Lee, the MP for Bracknell, told the Institute for Economic Affairs these conditions were an "increasing burden" for the NHS.

Ministers said the health service must remain free at the point of use.

But people needed to "take control" and "change their behaviour" if necessary.

Dr Lee highlighted the increase in diabetes as a particular cause for concern - with the number of people diagnosed with the condition estimated to rise by 700,000 by the end of the decade and top four million by 2025.

Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for 90% of diabetes cases, can be caused or exacerbated by a unhealthy diet, lack of exercise and being overweight although this is not always the case as some sufferers have a genetic vulnerability.

Dr Lee said some evidence suggested diabetes treatments could account for a quarter of the NHS budget by 2025.

"This clearly isn't a sustainable position," he said in a speech to the right-leaning think tank.

"So I would suggest one way of perhaps trying to move that locus of responsibility for health care from the state to the individual would be in making it that you pay for your drugs at cost, in that way you would be attaching a consequences to lifestyle choice."

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'Lifestyle patients' drugs call