On Callahan on Rationing

Peter Steinfels quotes Dan Callahan as saying  "whenever demand for some resource outstrips supply, as seems to be the case for quality medical care, some kind of rationing, whether by official policy or by economic advantage, starts to operate."

However, "rationing" must be conscious in order to be degrading. When market forces (or geographic distances or any other barriers not aimed against any particular group) discriminate, as at present, there is physical harm to the health of some of us -- and we should indeed help those of us in need through higher taxes.

But when the State says who deserves to live and who does not, an invidious principle become a knife inserted into the heart of democracy, human equality, and human dignity. Some of us lose not only money or health care but also (and more importantly, I think)  equal respect for our lives and for our very being.