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Show BY RICK KINNERSLEY President Health Care Rationing There are two major universal health insurance plans now in the Congressional Con-gressional hopper. The sponsors are playing it close to the vest, but when forced will sheepishly admit that then-plans then-plans will require rationing of health services. After a detailed study of the proposals pro-posals the Brookings Institution said the Kennedy-Labor Bill and the Carter Aciministrationsplan, "abandon the principle that care should be provided whenever it is needed, that cost should not be a consideration when life or health is at stake." The statement appears ap-pears in the Brookings Institution Annual An-nual Report. The report goes on to say the plans implicitly "accept the principle that some medical benefits are too small, too costly, or both, and that the resources can be put to better use elsewhere." The Brookings group concludes that the plans fail to take into account any benefit that might be derived by restoring the health of individuals in the categories that they feel are not cost effective. It is a personified version ver-sion of cost vs. benefit as similarly applied ap-plied to things like the Central Utah Project. If the "fed's" don't think the procedure or the patient will provide the proper return for the investment, in spite of the results, the patient will not get the procedure under the two existing national health insurance The decision on rationing in the two proposals starts at the top. Guidelines will be offered but final decisions will be forced on the health providers doctors and hospitals because the dollars will not be provided provid-ed to meet the needs of the public. Therefore, the last man on the federal dollar sieve will be the "scape-goat". It will be this little guy who will have taratiorx care, to deny, service to those in need, as a result of some federal bureaucrats decision that the service is not cost effective. According to Brookings, "If we decide to limit the flow of dollars into medical care, then we must decide what the limits will be and choose methods for deciding what to do, and for whom, within those limits." Probably the most serious problem faced in the debate over the health insurance in-surance plans and their need is the failure of the proponents to recognize the rationing in their bills. Brookings says the "rationing" problem to date has been scoffed at by supporters of the two major comprehensive plans. "They would have the public believe, and appear to believe themselves, that it is possible to have everything of benefit while at the same time setting budgets by rules that do not consider the gains that might be achieved if more were spent," concludes Brookings. Brook-ings. Jt8& 1 UTAH HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION |