Can We Say No? The Challenge of Rationing Health Care

Over the past four decades, the share of income devoted to health care in the United States has nearly tripled. Unless current policy changes, this worrisome trend is likely to continue. Should Americans decide to rein in the growth of health care spending, on the other hand, they will be forced to consider rationing care for the well insured - a prospect that is odious and unthinkable to many. Can We Say No? argues that sensible health care rationing not only can save money, but can improve public health and general welfare as well.

Henry J. Aaron is the Bruce and Virginia MacLaury Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution William B. Schwartz, M.D., is an expert on national health policy and is a professor of medicine at the University of Southern California Melissa Cox is a student at Yale Law School and a former Brookings research analyst