Report finds consumer-driven healthcare model most ethical
DALLAS A new report released by the Institute for Policy Innovation states that the consumer-driven healthcare model is both ethical and sustainable among healthcare reform alternatives.
In the report, entitled "The Ethics of Health Care Reform," IPI resident scholar and healthcare 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 healthcare 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," wrote Matthews.
An ethical system must promote and protect the primacy of the patient, without neglecting the practical concerns over affordability, sustainability and quality, Matthews said.
Matthews responds to the push for a government-run, universal coverage system, stating: "An ethical healthcare system doesn't just promise people they will get the care they need, it empowers people so they can get that care. 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."