Health is a concept that carries a relative character and depends on several determinants, one of which is age. Even though a common saying states that money cannot buy good health, the reality proves the opposite. The process of acquisition and maintenance of a desired level of health depends on the financial investment one is ready or able to make for their health once such need arises. Two main factors contribute to the accessibility of good healthcare for the population – adequate income and the affordability of health care services. The latter determinant is dictated by the resource allocation in society.
In contemporary healthcare “the allocation of health care resources involves a societal determination of what resources should be devoted to a particular program” (Smith, 2002). In other words, the resources are allocated and assigned based on the relative scale and the estimated needs of the population. Ethically, the main criteria for resource allocation are equitability and cost-effectiveness (Brock & Wikler, 2006). Cost-effectiveness deals with the costs and benefits of services that are evaluated based on the financial expenditures and health improvements they provide; whereas equitability stands for the way the costs and benefits are distributed across the society (Brock & Wikler, 2006).
Discussing how the health benefits and resources are allocated between different generations, it is important to mention that, in this case, the patients and their needs are not viewed individually but are generalized based on the statistical variables for each generation (UKCEN, 2011). The fact that the returns for prenatal health care are high, whereas it may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep an acutely ill, elderly person alive means that health care practices targeting younger populations are much more cost-effective, whereas those for the older people require a lot of spending and have unstable and insignificant benefits. American health care has been experiencing a financial crisis for a long while. The monetary issues can be addressed with the help of a more cost-effective orientation in service delivery. However, such an approach assumes that the older generation will be denied some health care services after it reaches a certain age. For example, this rationing maintains that the natural lifespan of humans lasts approximately 80 years; that way, providing healthcare services to people older than that is extremely ineffective.
It goes without saying that such rationing is widely criticized and referred to as discriminative against the older generation. However, the practical attitude shows that over the last several decades the elderly population has been growing rapidly, and so have its needs for health care resources, and this resulted in very ineffective spending. The government should apply age-based rationing to convince society of the practicality and utilitarian nature of intergenerational resource allocation (Smith, 2009). Besides, the government’s role is to facilitate cost-effective spending to provide more individuals with the opportunities to receive high-quality care instead of giving privileges to certain age groups. The government’s policies could be implemented through programs such as Medicaid and Medicare and their orientation to cost-effective treatments.
To sum up, contemporary American health care is facing significant financial difficulties and requires a new approach emphasizing cost-effectiveness and saving resources. Age-based rationing in intergenerational resource allocation prioritizes the practices with a higher level of health benefits, but at that same time is criticized for ageism especially against people older than 80. This practice may seem harsh, but it is also practical and grounded on equity and utilitarian good.
Reference List
Brock, D. W., & Wikler, D. (2006). Ethical Issues in Resource Allocation, Research, and New Product Development. In D. T. Jamison, J. G. Breman, & A. R. Measham (Eds.). Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Smith, G. P. (2002). Allocating healthcare resources to the elderly. Elder Law Review, 1, 21-27.
Smith, G. P. (2009). The Elderly and Health Care Rationing. Pierce Law Review, 7(2), 171-182.
UKCEN. (2011). Resource Allocation. Web.