Over at his web site Dave has put up a post discussing how resources are allocated. I’ve touched on this very briefly in comments and a post or two, but nothing this extensive. As such, go read it, it’s good. Here is a snippet,
Despite the author’s attempt to assuage concern by pooh-poohing the idea of rationing, rationing or resource allocation goes on all of the time whether by government, insurance companies, or by the relative preferences of individual healthcare producers and consumers. As long as wants are infinite and supplies are limited there are must be some mechanism for allocating the resource.
There are only three methods of allocating resources: fiat, the political process, and markets.
Needless to say, I tend to prefer the latter. I prefer the last option because it often gives people the best chance to meet their specific wants and needs.
