The new limit, planned to be introduced after the May 22 budget, would stop about 65,000 of the 300,000 people who now have access to the subsidised drugs.
Many people die from their first attack.
It would certainly run in the face of, and reduce, the effectiveness of the messages we give the community. Cardiologists are so approving of the aggressive drugs, which have swept aside all others since the mid-1990s, that they want more, not fewer, people using the drugs. The political war to have cholesterol recognised as a coronary risk has been waged for decades. Until recently, many authorities said there was nothing to the cholesterol story, pointing to smoking and blood pressure as the main risk factors. Poor diet has increasingly become the focus of coronary risk.