Rationing by Any Other Name

Although many clinicians and health policy makers are comfortable with the notion that some beneficial health care services are simply too expensive to provide, fewer are comfortable using the word “rationing” to describe these compromises. The word is so loaded that some cannot use or hear it without thinking of policies that discriminate against vulnerable population groups. Some policy makers carefully avoid the word, substituting euphemistic phrases such as “emphasizing truly beneficial services.” When the word is used in medical contexts, it is usually to discredit an insurance program or a suggested health policy that cuts too close to a . . .