Treating the NHS as a political tool

With money being allocated by the government the NHS will always be used in an attempt to curry favour with particular demographics or punish those areas that traditionally don't vote for the current government, but has it ever been so blatant with Health Secretary Andrew Landsley's declaration that

"age is the principal determinant of health need"

The logic goes that the older your area's population is the more money that is spent. Seems fine until the evidence is examined and it turns out that the poorer your area's population the more money is spent. So why this shift?

I'm sure it's got nothing to do with the fact that the areas with the oldest populations, who would gain additional funding under this principle, all happen to reside in Conservative voting areas.

Even better channelling money away from the poorer areas leaves the NHS unable to deal and provides the 'evidence' that privatised healthcare is the answer while maintaining the Conservative voting areas who are still receiving free care.