
DALLAS TX: A new report released today by the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) adds a unique philosophical dimension to todays health care reform debate stating that of all reform alternatives only the consumer driven health care model is both ethical and sustainable.
In the report entitled The Ethics of Health Care Reform IPI resident scholar and health care expert Dr. Merrill Matthews evaluates the ethical merits of several reform models concluding that only one best meets the criteria Americans want from an ethical health care system.
The consumer driven model is the only one that incorporates both our fundamental principle-- patient control--and yet balances the consequence-oriented need for access to coverage and quality care that is financially sustainable over the long term writes Matthews.
Matthews responds to the push for a government-run universal coverage system stating: An ethical health care system doesnt just promise people they will get the care they need it empowers people so they can get that care.
Matthews warns of the inevitable loss of patient control when government bureaucrats interfere in the health care process. When a third party--government insurer or employer--controls most of the health care funds that entity eventually becomes the decision maker not the patient writes Matthews.
An ethical system must promote and protect the primacy of the patient without neglecting the practical concerns over affordability sustainability and quality says Matthews.
And while the consumer driven model may not be perfect alternative models just cant compare says Matthews.
A consumer driven approach comes closest to meeting the leading ethical principle guiding medicine today while at the same time addressing the issues that most concern a consequentialist he concludes.