re: #308 BryanS

You’re making a big assumption. To control costs, there WILL be rationing. When the market is not there to control supply versus demand through the pricing mechanism, something has to act in the place of price. That something is the advisory panel, which will surely conclude it is more cost effective to spend money on the young’s health care and not buy that expensive medical equipment on an older person in the process of dying. Sounds cold—and it is. That is how Europeans control health care costs. It’s not a “death panel”, but the last days of ones’ life are often the most expensive for the least return (on life expectancy). Metrics for doing that cost/benefit analysis will be developed, and the amount of money approved will be weighed against those standards.

Better for my field, spend money on people like me to keep old equipment running rather than buy new equipment that doesn’t break down as often.