Health Care "Utilization"

The new euphemism for rationing is utilization. If you ever read or hear utilization in a story about health care, be sure to substitute the word the pundit meant to use: rationing.

For example, on CNBC they just talked about the need to tax "Cadillac" insurance packages because they encourage recipients to "over-utilize" their health care. In other words, people are incented to go to the doctor more often when they receive packages of health care benefits that create a disconnect between the payor for the coverage and the recipient of the coverage. Well no shit, Shirley!

Here's another area where there is and must be over-utilization: single payer health care plans. Because the person paying the bill has no direct cost they are more likely to over-consume the resource. This in turn creates the need for rationing via long wait times. You see, in that way the government can limit health care to those who most need it and are willing to sacrifice their time to seek care. IOW, it's the government's way of increasing the cost of health care while keeping the price low.

More on this later.