7.16.2009

A must-read article.

Why We Must Ration Health Care

There's going to be a lot of discussion in the weeks ahead as the Senate and House move toward votes on their proposed plans. This is one of the more intelligent pieces I've read on how our current system already rations health care, and proposes a way to do it that could be more ethical and fair in practice.

I particularly enjoyed the final paragraph, as someone who's sick of seeing the word "socialized" constantly equated with "coming of the Anti-Christ."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I found this article very interesting, but it lacks some key thinking. What happens when the cost for a medication decreases due to new developments? Does a life suddenly become worth saving because you can afford it better? What about people with rare diseases/disorders who now have hope due to the orphan drug programs? Do we discontinue research because the drugs they find that may help are too costly to develop for a small number of people who need them? What cost is knowledge of how the human body functions- and how do we balance spending money on researching medicines with spending money on medications we already have on those sick with more common things?
Hard choices are ahead.