Attitudes toward age-based health care rationing. A qualitative assessment.

This study is designed to contribute to recent efforts to assess public views on age-based rationing of health care by reporting findings from a qualitative research project using focus group interviews. Group interviews find that respondents are concerned about the high costs of health care, but few attribute these costs to overuse by older people. Respondents reject the notion of specific policies limiting health care based on the age of the patient. Respondents of all ages tend to reject the idea of paying for treatment to extend the life of the hopelessly ill when all beneficial treatment efforts have been attempted. Although expressing strong feelings about equality of opportunity for health care, respondents are ambivalent about the role that government should play to accomplish this goal. Differences in attitudes toward allocation of health care appear to be associated more with differences in socioeconomic status and political orientation than with differences in age of respondents.