Implicit versus Explicit Rationing of Health Services

In many developed countries, the concept of ra tioning healthcare services is treated as a taboo in the political debate. If someone argues in favor of certain types of explicit rationing, s/he immediately encounters fierce reactions by politicians and medical leaders and is sometimes even treated as if s/he had proposed euthanasia. The quotation above from the former German Health Minister Rösler, a Free Demo crat, shows that this attitude is widespread in all political parties. Physician representatives like the late president of the German Medical As sociation, Jörg-Dietrich Hoppe, usually draw a line between the concepts of rationing (which they oppose) and prioritization (which they advocate). But even the latter concept is harshly rejected by office-holding politicians.