The current trend of rapidly growing health care costs is unsustainable. Many proposed reforms to curb spending rely on some type of rationing imposed by an unaccountable government body. A better approach would be to allow individual consumers to make their own decisions about care, including the self-rationing of medical services, by engaging patients in the decisions about their care and its cost throughout their life span and at the end of life. Such a policy is compatible with American values of limited government and individual liberty and responsibility. State and federal policymakers should adopt measures to facilitate personal control of health care
