Health care can be rationed for many reasons. For instance, there might not be enough of a technology to meet the need; money to pay for medical care might be limited; or as in the case with organs, donation lags behind demand. Insurance companies, Medicaid and Medicare "ration" by denying coverage for certain treatments.
We are living longer. The Baby Boomers are aging. These realities will increase the pressure on the health care system causing total costs to rise. As the Volti text states, "It is not always easy to scrutinize a particular medical technology in terms of costs, benefits, and general appropriateness — especially when it applies to us or someone close to us."
Right not, let's focus on new life-saving technologies, like the organ donation or renal dialysis examples. At the end of his "Medical and Biological Technologies" Chapter, Volti asks questions that I have modified:
1.) When the demand for organs or a new medical technology exceeds the supply, what criteria/mechanism should be used to determine who gets it? A lottery? The ability to pay? The "merit" of the recipient? Or something else? 2.) Why? 3.) What human value supports (is consistent with) your answer? Why? (You are not limited to selecting one of your personal core values here.)
Write a one- to two-page paper that answers these questions