Healthcare Rationing As US healthcare costs increase, there is a concern as to how to protect our medical resources against frivolous spending, while providing the best medical attention possible, to the greatest number of individuals. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 has attempted to use market forces as an allocation solution that will determine who receives medical care and on what terms. While the rationing system is widely supported, it has had a devastating effect on the quality and quantity of care received by the elderly and impoverished, and poses serious questions concerning what does it mean to have quality of life and who is entitled to live a long life with access to healthcare. What is the basis for rationing healthcare: age,
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Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Rossi is a member of a committee responsible for determining what services are to be covered or excluded from a specific HMO plan. He is recalling the case of a 91-year-old former marathon runner in perfect physical health that requires a knee replacement surgery in order to maintain the level of activity he is accustomed to. The committee is dedicated to limiting replacement arthroplasty to those under the age of 90 years old with the assertion that any persons past that age would not live long enough to justify the expense of the procedure. Many argue that the funds allocated for this man’s one-time procedure would best be used to cover the costs of comprehensive care and lower premiums over time for many other member patients. The 91 year-old man’s case is unique. A comorbidity of medical illnesses afflicts a majority of individuals in the US over the age of 90. Healthcare spending has increased significantly over the last 40 years without any greater benefit of extending the lifespan of recipients. However, doctors and patients are pushing the limits of healthcare spending in hopes that medical technology will catch up to Western societies’ desire to extend life indefinitely. Indeed, medical technology has extended life, but without removing those factors which cause physical death. Therefore, where the goal of medical science remains making death an option, …show more content…
Medical technology is not a way to escape death, and the promise of a better life simply because it is a bit longer, is a false one. Professionals should encourage the elderly to accept the nature of a full and natural life span in hopes that they refuse medical treatment based on the acknowledgement that they have led a long and full life. The model for this approach is taken from Wendell Berry’s novel Hannah Coulter, where Hannah’s husband Nathan refuses chemotherapy treatment. Here, Nathan is depicted as wise and unselfish for his understanding of what it means to have had a life well lived, and accepts the natural process of life and death. This argument would require us to ask the question,”What is a life worth
Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Rossi is a member of a committee responsible for determining what services are to be covered or excluded from a specific HMO plan. He is recalling the case of a 91-year-old former marathon runner in perfect physical health that requires a knee replacement surgery in order to maintain the level of activity he is accustomed to. The committee is dedicated to limiting replacement arthroplasty to those under the age of 90 years old with the assertion that any persons past that age would not live long enough to justify the expense of the procedure. Many argue that the funds allocated for this man’s one-time procedure would best be used to cover the costs of comprehensive care and lower premiums over time for many other member patients. The 91 year-old man’s case is unique. A comorbidity of medical illnesses afflicts a majority of individuals in the US over the age of 90. Healthcare spending has increased significantly over the last 40 years without any greater benefit of extending the lifespan of recipients. However, doctors and patients are pushing the limits of healthcare spending in hopes that medical technology will catch up to Western societies’ desire to extend life indefinitely. Indeed, medical technology has extended life, but without removing those factors which cause physical death. Therefore, where the goal of medical science remains making death an option, …show more content…
Medical technology is not a way to escape death, and the promise of a better life simply because it is a bit longer, is a false one. Professionals should encourage the elderly to accept the nature of a full and natural life span in hopes that they refuse medical treatment based on the acknowledgement that they have led a long and full life. The model for this approach is taken from Wendell Berry’s novel Hannah Coulter, where Hannah’s husband Nathan refuses chemotherapy treatment. Here, Nathan is depicted as wise and unselfish for his understanding of what it means to have had a life well lived, and accepts the natural process of life and death. This argument would require us to ask the question,”What is a life worth