Financial considerations should be secondary to the optimization of their health
Financial considerations are always part of the health care equation. Would I be better off having a check-up every month instead of every year? What are the cost and benefit considerations for me? Doctors need to collaborate with and educate patients. There are what — 90 some diagnostic tests that can be done on my blood sample. Why shouldn’t I have all 90 done every time I go to the doctor? To optimize my health, should I as a patient have or buy insurance that pays for 100 percent of everything I think I need? or, even everything my doctor thinks I need?
My point is that irrespective of the degree of freedom in the health care system, there will always be rationing by cost and affordability. The key question is: who decides what will be rationed — me and my doctor or someone else? When I ration my own health care (with my doctor’s recommendations), finances are for me a big part of the equation, and they should be. Otherwise, with me considering costs there is no “rationing mechanism,” and consequently no consistent way to reliably allocate medical resources to what is best for patients.
Craig Westover