Every country seems to be having the same issues right now. I think it is the after effects of a once in a century pandemic that health systems were ill-prepared for, and isn’t fully over (huge flu season repercussions if not interacting in the last few years)

Thank you for pointing this out. In the UK the newspaper and TV rarely place our healthcare crisis in a wider context.

I'm in favor of the right to access a painless assisted death, but society should be able to make a better offer to anyone who is not terminally ill.

There are actually examples downthread of some doing just that - threatening patients that need constant care with torture unless they "voluntarily" apply to the program.