Healthcare Rationing Report: Challenges and Ethical Considerations

This report delves into the critical issue of healthcare rationing, a complex challenge in delivering health services. It highlights the ethical dilemmas and practical difficulties, such as resource limitations and rising costs. The report examines the concept of rationing, its prevalence in various healthcare settings, and the importance of ensuring equitable access to quality care. It references studies and surveys that explore the perspectives of healthcare facilities and the impact of rationing on patient care. Furthermore, the report analyzes the economic aspects of healthcare rationing, including marginal benefits, cost curves, and financial incentives, to provide a comprehensive overview of the issue. The report underscores the need for open discussion and ethical decision-making in addressing the challenges of healthcare rationing to ensure fair and effective healthcare delivery.

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Title: Health Care Rationing

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Health care rationing is one of the toughest issues faced in delivery of health care
services and therefore should discussed, debated and solved with honesty, openness and
without political interference (Scheuneman and White, 2011). Survey carried out in 2015
showed that 39 percent of health facilities would consider healthcare rationing to save money.
Rationing is not new in the health care sector. In most cases resources are rationed by dying
patients before reaching the operating table (Vize, 2015). Research carried out by the
Nuffield Trust showed that most CCGs are rationing on access to IVF and in carrying out
caesarean section just because the patients wants it.
Every person has the right to accessing quality health care services irrespective of
their gender, social class, belief, race or income. The main aim of every health care
organization is offering an affordable, accessible and quality health care services to the
citizens (Mosadeghrad, 2014). This has increasingly been faced with a couple of challenges
such as shortage of resources, increased costs and unlimited demand. According to Callahan
(2011), in the past decade, the health expenditure growth rate has been higher that the
economic growth rate. The escalation in health care costs is thought to be as a result of much
money being spend on inappropriate expensive technologies and supplier induced demand
(Keliddar, Mosadeghrad and Jafari-Sirizi, 2017).
Chen and Schwartz (2015) define marginal benefits as the benefits a client obtains
from a unit to the other. According to Frakt (2011), one would consume as much health care
resources as he thinks he is worthy, though insurance complicates the whole thing of
purchasing health care. One would continue to consume the health care services until the
marginal benefit is lower than their price. According to Malin, Weeks, Potosky, Hombrook
and Kaeting (2013), the cost curve should be bend by doing away with financial incentives to
offer affordable health care services (Dzeng and Smith, 2013). Plotting of marginal curve is
important as it provides a measure of benefits and costs at a given instance of production and

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consumption (Feldstein, 2015). It also could be used to realize the change in cost over
quantity change.

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References
Callahan, D. (2011). Rationing: Theory, Politics, and Passions. The Hastings Center Report.
Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 23–7.
Chen, Y. and Schwartz, M. (2015). Differential pricing when costs differ: A welfare analysis.
The RAND Journal of Economics, 46(2), 442-460. doi:10.1111/1756-2171.12091
Feldstein, P. J. (2015). Health policy issues: An economic perspective. Chicago, IL: Health
Administration Press (HAP).
Dzeng, E. and Smith, T. J. (2013). Rationing healthcare: who's responsible? Oncology
(Williston Park, N.Y.), 27(2), 91, 96.
Frakt, A. (2011). The Incidental Economist. Retrieved from:
https://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/simply-put-marginal-costbenefit/
Feldstein, P. J. (2015). Health policy issues: An economic perspective. Chicago, IL: Health
Administration Press (HAP).
Keliddar, I., Mosadeghrad, A. M. and Jafari-Sirizi, M. (2017). Rationing in health systems: A
critical review. Medical journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 31, 47.
doi:10.14196/mjiri.31.47
Malin, J. L, Weeks, J. C, Potosky, A. L., Hombrook, M. C. and Keating, N. L. (2013).
Medical oncologists' perceptions of financial incentives in cancer care. Journal of
Clinical Oncol; Epub ahead of print.
Mosadeghrad, A. M. (2014). Essentials of total quality management in health care: a
systematic review. International Journal of Health Care Qual Assur. Vol. 27, No. 6,
pp. 544–58

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Vize, R. (2015). Rationing care is a Fact of life for the NHS. Retrieved from:
https://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2015/apr/24/rationing-care-fact-of-
life-nhs
Scheunemann, L. and White, D. (2011). The ethics and reality of rationing in medicine.
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