Rationing of expensive procedures need not be done overtly, by a “Death Panel”. There will be Death Panels; but, most rationing will be done a lot more covertly (i.e. sneakily).
Here, in Canada, in the late 1980’s, early 1990’s, all governments (federal, provincial, territorial) conspired to drastically cut enrollments in medical and nursing schools. The rationale was stated as “Doctors create their own demand”. Cut the number of Doctors, and the demand for health care would fall — or so went the official line.
Naturally, that soon lead to a severe shortage in Doctors, and long wait lists for testing or operations (A common phrase in Canada: “I’m waitlisted for that operation”). The Fraser Institute (an excellent “free market” think tank) started publishing regular reports on the backlogs for medical services — using the government’s own data. Finally, in the early 2000s, this policy was ended, and more medical school positions opened up. As a result, we now have far more Doctors — including specialists.
That’s led to the latest rationing gambit. Operating room time at hospitals is severely restricted. Most operating rooms aren’t available at night. They are periodically closed altogether for weeks at a time, whenever annual quotas are exceeded.
The latest twist in this sad saga is unemployed medical specialists — in particular surgeons. They are unemployed, because there are no operating rooms available for them to work in.
Meanwhile, wait lists are still often far longer than Americans would once have tolerated.
” Cut the number of Doctors, and the demand for health care would fall — or so went the official line.”
That was the essence of Hillary Care. I believe that at that time student loans for expensive specialists became difficult to obtain in the US.
The same dumb ideas spring up all over.