Rationing Is Not a Four-Letter Word - 9780262027496

Most people would agree that the healthcare system in the United States is a mess.Healthcare accounts for a larger percentage of gross domestic product in the United States than inany other industrialized nation, but health outcomes do not reflect this enormous investment. Inthis book, Philip Rosoff offers a provocative proposal for providing quality healthcare to allAmericans and controlling the out-of-control costs that threaten the economy. He argues thatrationing -- often associated in the public's mind with such negatives as unplugging ventilators,death panels, and socialized medicine -- is not a dirty word. A comprehensive, centralized, and fairsystem of rationing is the best way to distribute the benefits of modern medicine equitably whileachieving significant cost savings.

Rosoff points out that certain forms ofrationing already exist when resources are scarce and demand high: the organ transplant system, forexample, and the distribution of drugs during a shortage. He argues that if we incorporate certainkey features from these systems, healthcare rationing would be fair -- and acceptable politically.Rosoff considers such topics as fairness, decisions about which benefits should be subject torationing, and whether to compensate those who are denied scarce resources. Finally, he offers adetailed discussion of what an effective and equitable healthcare rationing system would looklike.