Thoughts on shrinkage

More on health care reform, so if you don't want to hear it- this is your warning.

Right now, there's a lot of talk about rationing of health care. Not in any positive way, more as a threat. "If the government gets involved with health care, they'll ration it!" And I have to wonder about this. What does it mean to ration health care? The talk I hear from so many of the proclaimers that the government will ration seems to revolve around long waits, and some procedures being denied to people. They cite Canadians coming to the US for cosmetic surgery as a result of rationing in Canada.

But what about the insurance company that denies a claim to an insured person? Isn't that rationing, just after the fact? Only now, the person has had the medical procedure, and owes the bills, that they had been expecting to be paid. What about insurance companies refusing to cover individuals due to pre-existing conditions? Isn't that rationing of insurance? And doctors that won't take Medicare or Medicaid patients?

Wake up, people, we already have rationing of health care. I highly doubt a public option or single payer plan could ration medical procedures much more. As for long wait times for cosmetic surgery or elective procedures- why not? Shouldn't resources first be put into necessary treatments, before electives? Should any procedure be available to any person just because they want it and have the money for it?

Gah. This world is up side down some times.