Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, proposes the rationing of healthcare as a solution to reducing costs. Singer suggests saving costly treatments for those who would benefit from them in the long-term, rather than to those who are expected to die within a few months to a year.
Although the idea of depriving someone of treatment sounds unethical, Singer argues that rationing already occurs in the current system, where those with private insurance can only access to the coverage they and their employers can afford, while those covered under Medicare and Medicaid are limited to those services with affordable copayment.
Singer urges the United States to consider a system used in other countries where public health coverage is provided at no cost, with the option to purchase additional private coverage. He believes that this, along with a system that rations healthcare expenses only to services that can provide years of quality living, is the best way for the United States to achieve the goal of healthcare reform, which is to provide coverage to all Americans.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine/19healthcare-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Source: The New York Times
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