Richard Dwyer is a Silicon Valley, California lawyer who was former Associate Editor of the Stanf...
Credit: Richard E. A. Dwyer | ©2009 by Richard Dwyer
Remember the movie, "The Titanic" where the rich passengers got access to the lifeboats? Remember the poorer passengers being prevented from vying for those lifeboats, given their scarcity?
Anytime there is more demand for things like lifeboats than supply, there will be a system for deciding who gets the lifeboat. We can call the system by whatever name we want -- rationing, "highest bidder" , "free market" , "women and children first" -- but it is a system to decide who gets the limited resources. Calling it one name or another is simply semantics.
In America, we have a finite amount of healthcare "lifeboats" -- doctors, nurses, hospitals -- with more demand than supply. By necessity, we need a system to distribute these limited resources. As the demand exceeds the supply, any system we come up with will require decisions on who receives the supply and who does not.
So we'll necessarily have to decide what measuring stick to use to determine "who gets what." Are we going to give the "rich passengers" priority as they did on the Titanic? Are we going to give "women and children" priority? What about the elderly? The terminally ill? These are the questions that should be discussed and must be answered.
But while we are having the discussion, none of us should bemoan the fact that such decisions will necessarily have to be made. With more passengers than lifeboats, it is what it is.
Anytime there is more demand for things like lifeboats than supply, there will be a system for deciding who gets the lifeboat. We can call the system by whatever name we want -- rationing, "highest bidder" , "free market" , "women and children first" -- but it is a system to decide who gets the limited resources. Calling it one name or another is simply semantics.
In America, we have a finite amount of healthcare "lifeboats" -- doctors, nurses, hospitals -- with more demand than supply. By necessity, we need a system to distribute these limited resources. As the demand exceeds the supply, any system we come up with will require decisions on who receives the supply and who does not.
So we'll necessarily have to decide what measuring stick to use to determine "who gets what." Are we going to give the "rich passengers" priority as they did on the Titanic? Are we going to give "women and children" priority? What about the elderly? The terminally ill? These are the questions that should be discussed and must be answered.
But while we are having the discussion, none of us should bemoan the fact that such decisions will necessarily have to be made. With more passengers than lifeboats, it is what it is.
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