"'Look, the first thing for all of us to understand that is we actually have some -- some choices to make about how we want to deal with our own end-of-life care,' Mr. Obama replied. After discussing ways 'we as a culture and as a society [can start] to make better decisions within our own families and for ourselves,' he continued that in general 'at least we can let doctors know and your mom know that, you know what? Maybe this isn't going to help. Maybe you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller.'"
President Obama is certainly correct that choices have to be made about medical care. The key question is, "who's going to make those choices, and what will the options be?" Will private individuals be allowed to choose between private medical service providers who have to compete with each other for customers? Or, will we have a system in which someone in government decides which services will be provided, and for whom, and in which providers are essentially working for the government, rather than for the individual patient? How these questions are answered will significantly affect how much incentive providers have to provide patients with the care they want.
