Day after Berwick hearing, Mitch Daniels talks about 'limitations' on health care spending

Feb 14 2011

Politico: Mitch Daniels Tiptoes Into The Debate Over Rationing 
Potential GOP presidential contender Mitch Daniels edged into the debate over rationing health care Friday, saying there will "never be enough money" for every American to have access to all modern life-saving technology. "We all want to live forever, we want everything done for us to live forever," the Indiana governor told a small group of health reporters. ... Republicans have excoriated Don Berwick, President Barack Obama's Medicare chief, who has said that the current system is irrational and "rations blindly." Daniels didn't utter the R-word Friday (Kliff, 2/11).

NPR's SHOTS blog: Questions About Rationing Health Care Cross Party Lines
For what it's worth, Berwick said in the Ways and Means hearing Thursday that he "abhors rationing." And Daniels, for his part, said the central question remains whether government will impose restrictions or people will "make choices for themselves through some mechanism." How Daniels sees that happening is a little fuzzy. ... Daniels suggests that perhaps patients should be paying more of their own health costs. "Eventually we'll have to deal with it," he said. "And I don't think there's a more humane way than the re-involvement of the patient himself, herself, the loved ones, to a greater extent," he said (Rovner, 2/11).