The Complete Lives System

healthchart

Envisioned by Persad, Wertheimer and Emmanuel, this chart shows a proposed solution for providing medical care during emergencies. What makes this proposal important is that one of the authors is Dr. Ezekiel Emmanuel, brother to chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel, and now Health Care Policy Adviser to the White House.

This chart shows that the arguments for rationing care in a single payer system is a reality - assuming the Administration takes the advice of...their adviser.

Eight principles are looked at to determine the best method for providing health care, or as the authors state - Probability of receiving an intervention - during an emergency. Of course, the word emergency is loosely defined, and one cannot be too sure when the author's brother, Rahm, was quoted as saying:

“You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste; it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid.”

In deciding what is best for our health, the article states that a lottery system would be better than one of "first-come, first-serve" as that system would favor the wealthy, powerful and well-connected. In addition, priority is given to the youngest, rather than the sickest. This is because those already sick may not have taken care of themself and that by being prudent while young, you will be healthier and not require care when older. Contrary to what Elvis Costello says, accidents will not happen, at least not here.

As you read the article, you can see a sense of Eugenics and that of playing God. This is reinforced in the sections titled "Utilitarianism" and "Promoting and rewarding social usefulness." In these sections, we see that the priority is not to save lives, but to save life-years. This is where the elderly get, to put it bluntly, screwed.

The conclusions presented offer an eerie look at what may be our future health care system - one that strives to increase health, but doesn't really "care" for patients.

The full article can be found at the NCPA website.