How does the author respond to the criticism about older people and those with disabilities?
Health systems with finite budgets cannot fund every treatment, and the choices are painful. One method is to compare treatments by the health gained per pound spent, funding those that offer the most and declining those that offer least. Critics say that this places a price on life and unfairly disadvantages older people and those with disabilities, who may gain fewer years of benefit. The criticism has force, but the alternative is not the absence of rationing. It is rationing by waiting lists, by postcode or by the loudness of campaigns. A transparent method that can be challenged and revised is preferable to hidden ones that cannot. The sensible response to the critics' concerns is to refine the method, for example by giving extra weight to the severity of illness.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. By conceding it has force and suggesting that the method be refined
- Step 1: The author writes 'the criticism has force' and ends by proposing refinements such as weight for severity.
- Step 2: The only choice consistent with this is "By conceding it has force and suggesting that the method be refined".
Answer
By conceding it has force and suggesting that the method be refined.
Why not the others: The author neither denies, dismisses, abandons the method nor proposes denial of care.
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