Scarce Resources in Health Care

The assumption that a centrally planned national health care system could match resources to needs has proved to be a chimera. Shortages are inherent in any system that is more or less "free at the point of access" while it still permits unlimited scientific innovation for its patients. Rationing by science is as unsatisfactory as is political or economic rationing: equality in health care cannot be in balance with uncontrolled technological innovation.

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Volume 57, Issue 2 (pages 265–287)
Published in 1979