Read the article Why We Must Ration Health Care by Peter Singer. Does the author make a good case for rationing? Why or why not?
Due Friday, December 14, 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Posts
Comments
6 comments:
there were a lot of good points made in this article and i found it a very interesting read. some of the things that stuck out in my mind was when they were talking about putting a price on human life. if people were really concerned about human life they wouldnt look down on people that dont have insurance and need assistance with paying for medical treatment. I would have no problem with health care rationing. maybe then people will start taking better care of themselves to avoid serious conditions. yes i know not everything can be avoided. I think health care rationing would level the playing field a little more for all levels of income.
When I first read this article I thought that I knew what my answer would be. It seemed rather obvious that if a family member or I were given an opportunity to extend our lives for even a brief moment then every amount of effort or money should be taken to achieve that goal. While reading the article I found that there was good reasonable evidence for rationing even though the thought of it seems unsavory and unethical. It appears to me it is the same ethical delimna that battle field surgeons have to make in triage.
The author made the point of limited resources in his article. There just is not enough for everyone. I agree with this when thought of in another perspective. If a group of people are stuck out in a remote place, and there is limited food, it would be unethical to feast on what you have and allow other to suffer in hunger. The appropriate thing to do is to share what little you have and ration to get everyone by till rescue. The same could be said for health care. if we are doing what we can with what we have then everyone gets help and care. I feel like a hippocrite for saying this after what I said earlier, but what the author said about balancing that finite resource of money for healthcare, then we have to make limits on cost of care for minimal return. The author made the point that even though it goes unnoticed, the current healthcare system does the same thing in authorizing procedures or refusing to pay for them on a cost benefit basis. The only difference between the two is that the current models benefit analisys is based on insurance company profits and not on the good of all citizens. Between the two models, I would rather tell people that they can not have a procedure as a benefit to all citizens than to tell them they can not have the procedure becasue some rich guy would not be able to afford the fuel in his Lear jet to travel to his private island for vacation!
Reading this article just reaffirmed that we need to better understand our health care system.I still do not fully understand even the tiniest part of our health care system but this article has gotten me interested in the whole process and how it will have a direct effect on me and my piers.I like that the models display pretty much common knowledge that our system must be kept up and not let lax in funds,or people willing to help fine tune the process.
I had not read about rationing health care before. I can see both sides, and obviously that's conflicting. All someone has to do is think of one of their family members or friends in that position, they would spare no expense but unfortunately resources to that extent are not available. Definietly a thought provoking read and one that i think is inevitable, because as the population grows, our resources do not. I think the point about actually setting the spending limit to save a human life was interesting because so far it's in theory but having to actually sit down and determine what it is would be something else.
Article made some points, yes if you had the money you would want to live longer but why would you if during those times you were just plain miserable. If it's your time it's your time to leave this world and i wouldn't want to put a financial burden on my family. Rationing, they will hide it all from the lower income and give what is needed to the ones who will pay.
Evan Redburrow said....
The arthur makes good points about rationing throughout the article. It seems as if the wealthy get better healthcare since they can afford it eventhough their insurance may or may not cover most of the cost. Most patients believe that if a treatment exists for a medical problem, then that treatment should be provided and paid for by their insurance, regardless of the cost.
Payers and some doctors, however, will weigh the cost of a treatment against the expected outcomes to determine whether the treatment should be made available to a patient. This is called rationing.
Then its also a question of logic and fiance for family who are about to determine a family members life line.
Post a Comment