Out in the Cold?

Clinton hates to mention it, but some rationing of care is likely with reform

The day before Bill Clinton's health speech, the President and Hillary told reporters about their conversation with a hospital administrator. The man told them his institution had received a 92-year-old man for a quadruple-bypass operation, which would cost tens of thousands of dollars and extend his life marginally. Hillary asked why. The answer: Because there was no way to turn him away. Later, a journalist asked a sensitive question: If the old man hadn't been admitted, would it have been a form of rationing, er, "prioritizing"? This time the President answered, knowing the question was really about his own plan. "I'm...

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