Das Gut der Rationierung

Abstract Contrary to the conventional view that rationing is tantamount to „withholding“ rationing must be understood as a process of „giving“ at „prices“ below the recipients’ willingness or ability to pay at the moment of assignment. Rationing is neither throughout a „bad“ nor is it to be found merely in the public sphere - a private HMO contract concerns a rationing scheme for the contingency of illness. In the public sphere rationing in medicine, however, raises specific issues of rule of law and the legitimacy of the legal order as a whole. These rather than medical issues are addressed in the paper.