Allocating Health Care Resources / Edition 1

by James M. Humber, Robert F. Almeder

Overview

In ALLOCATING HEALTH CARE RESOURCES, leading authorities and researchers expose the basic philosophical, ethical, and economic issues underlying the current health care debate. The contributors wrestle with such complicated issues as whether it is ethical to ration health care, the morality of the worldwide bias against children in allocating health care resources, whether sin taxes can be defended morally, and how to achieve a just health care system. The book also includes an insightful analysis of the Clinton health care reform plan.

ALLOCATING HEALTH CARE RESOURCES will be of interest to philosophers, health policy experts, medical ethicists, health professionals, and concerned citizens. It serves to clarify and illuminate the logic and rhetoric of health care reform, and so to help us all achieve a fair and equitable distribution of these precious resources.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780896032606
Publisher:	Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Publication date:	01/11/1995
Series:	Biomedical Ethics Reviews , #1994
Edition description:	1995
Pages:	223
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

Humber, James M. (Georgia State Univ); Almeder, Robert F. (Georgia State Univ)

The contributors represent the specialties of bioethics, philosophy, and medical humanities. All are from academic medical institutions and hospitals within the U.S. Institutions represented include Georgetown Univ, Univ of Denver, and Univ of Texas.

Table of Contents

Better Health Care Through Rationing.- The Ethics of Health Care Rationing as a Strategy of Cost-Containment.- Rationing, Rhetoric, and Rationality: A Review of the Health Care Rationing Debate in America and Europe.- An Evaluation of Clinton’s Health Care Proposal.- Health Care Allocation: A Deflationary Account.- Hypothetical Choice Approaches to Health Care Allocation.- Sin Taxes as a Mechanism of Health Care Finance: Moral and Policy Considerations.- The Injustice of Age Bias Against Children in Allocating Health Care.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: David Thomasma, PhD (Loyola University Medical Center)
Description: There is no better way to update oneself about the major issues of today's health care debate than to take up this excellent volume. This is the 12th in a series of books designed for just such an update in bioethics.
Purpose: Each chapter is designed to summarize the current debate but also to shed light on the larger context of the issues, and sometimes, to suggest avenues for further exploration. In the past, the editors have assembled longer chapters with fewer contributions than in this volume. It is fitting that a greater variety of contributions is found in this volume, because it addresses the highly complex topic of allocating scarce health care resources, equated by the authors of the chapters with rationing health care. There is little overlap between chapters, and many present opposing sides to an argument.
Audience: It is intended for serious students, theorists, health care professionals, ethicists, and policy analysts.
Features: After an inaugural chapter by former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm praising rationing as a means to hold down costs and encouraging widespread discussion, a position he has advocated for some time, younger scholars thereafter explore the ramifications of controlling costs by limiting access to care. Particularly notable is John Douard's contribution, where he suggests moving beyond President Clinton's plan or even the well-crafted plan of Norman Daniels to provide basic health care, because both models rely on the biomedical rather than the social basis of health care delivery. This critique alone is worth the cost of the book. Feminine bioethicists like Loretta Kopelman and Mary Mahowald have helped all of us see how those who lack a voice in the current health care system are exceptionally vulnerable.
Assessment: Each chapter is introduced by an editor's summary and is clearly written. All chapters are new for the book, although Kopelman's is partially based on other work she has done. The chapters conclude with up-to-the-minute references and a bibliography that includes important thinkers. Thus, the book would also serve as a handy summary of issues for classroom use as well as for independent reading. Particularly helpful is how the chapters set a current debate within a broader context. This feature especially encourages the reader to reflect on enduring themes in the debate about rationing health care.

Doody's Review Service

3 Stars from Doody

There is no better way to update oneself about the major issues of today's health care debate than to take up this excellent volume. This is the 12th in a series of books designed for just such an update in bioethics. Each chapter is designed to summarize the current debate but also to shed light on the larger context of the issues, and sometimes, to suggest avenues for further exploration. In the past, the editors have assembled longer chapters with fewer contributions than in this volume. It is fitting that a greater variety of contributions is found in this volume, because it addresses the highly complex topic of allocating scarce health care resources, equated by the authors of the chapters with rationing health care. There is little overlap between chapters, and many present opposing sides to an argument. It is intended for serious students, theorists, health care professionals, ethicists, and policy analysts. After an inaugural chapter by former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm praising rationing as a means to hold down costs and encouraging widespread discussion, a position he has advocated for some time, younger scholars thereafter explore the ramifications of controlling costs by limiting access to care. Particularly notable is John Douard's contribution, where he suggests moving beyond President Clinton's plan or even the well-crafted plan of Norman Daniels to provide basic health care, because both models rely on the biomedical rather than the social basis of health care delivery. This critique alone is worth the cost of the book. Feminine bioethicists like Loretta Kopelman and Mary Mahowald have helped all of us see how those who lack a voice in the current health care systemare exceptionally vulnerable. Each chapter is introduced by an editor's summary and is clearly written. All chapters are new for the book, although Kopelman's is partially based on other work she has done. The chapters conclude with up-to-the-minute references and a bibliography that includes important thinkers. Thus, the book would also serve as a handy summary of issues for classroom use as well as for independent reading. Particularly helpful is how the chapters set a current debate within a broader context. This feature especially encourages the reader to reflect on enduring themes in the debate about rationing health care.

David Thomasma

Explores some of the philosophical, ethical, and economic issues that underlie the debate about rationing health care. Among them are whether rationing to achieve cost containment is ethical at all, the worldwide bias against children, the morality of sin taxes, and Bill Clinton's now defunct health care reform plan. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

There is no better way to update oneself about the major issues of today's health care debate than to take up this excellent book. -Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal

From the Publisher