‘We need death panels’

October 03, 2012

“We need death panels,” begins a recent New York Times op-ed by Steven Rattner, who served as “car czar” early in the Obama administration. “Well, maybe not death panels, exactly, but unless we start allocating health care resources more prudently — rationing, by its proper name — the exploding cost of Medicare will swamp the federal budget,”

“In the pantheon of toxic issues — the famous “third rails” of American politics — none stands taller than overtly acknowledging that elderly Americans are not entitled to every conceivable medical procedure or pharmaceutical,” he continued.

“No one wants to lose an aging parent,” he added. “And with price out of the equation, it’s natural for patients and their families to try every treatment, regardless of expense or efficacy. But that imposes an enormous societal cost that few other nations have been willing to bear.”

 

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Further information:

• Beyond Obamacare (New York Times)