Rationing: Distribution, Limitation, or Denial? — Against Conceptual Confusion in the Debate about Health Care Systems

Abstract

The term ‘rationing’ plays a central role within the political and scientific debates concerning the reform of health care systems. Sentences like “The demographical development accompanied by the progress in medicine makes rationing inevitable”, “If we don’t rationalize now we will have to ration in the near future”, “A fixed budget of medical costs will result in rationing” are often heard in this political debate. The concept of rationing that is used in such statements clearly has negative connotations; the rationing of medical services is a threat.