The real meaning of rationing

Rationing already takes place in many ways in health care. Managed care is exactly a form of rationing in which a private insurer determines whether patients should or should not receive services. In addition, private sector rationing injects profit motives into the calculations. The recent debate over health care has centered around who should do the rationing: private enterprises, often driven by profit or other private objectives, or government officials who are easily characterized as motivated by the immediate political returns of lower taxes or hiding the true shortcomings of services they administer. JAMA