Editor's Choice

It’s the evidence, stupid

BMJ 2008; 337 doi: 10.1136/bmj.a2119 (Published 16 October 2008)
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2119

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  1. Fiona Godlee, editor, BMJ
  1. fgodlee{at}bmj.com

    Nearly 20 years ago, the US state of Oregon embarked on a brave experiment to explicitly ration health care. The aim was to create and then whittle away at a prioritised list of treatments covered by the state funded Medicaid programme, so that the available money would cover more people. With the global credit crunch likely to make scarce resources even scarcer, this week’s BMJ looks back at what can be learnt from Oregon and forward to how we should ration health care in the future.

    As Vidhya Alakeson explains (doi:10.1136/bmj.a1563), the unique thing about Oregon’s 1989 health plan …

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