Tom Murray, president of The Hastings Center, discussed how and why health reform should reflect our values in an interview on NPR’s Science Friday.

Assume, for the moment, that you support the adoption of universal, single-payer coverage in the United States. Let us say that you believe that everyone has a right to a decent and equitable minimum of health care, and that we as a society have a moral duty to ensure that everyone has financial and other access to such services. Under these circumstances, to what extent, if at all, can you reasonably support the current major congressional efforts to reform health coverage, and at what point if at all – and why – ought one to withdraw support?

The president emeritus of the Hastings Center opens his insightful essay with the observation that the American people’s faith in medical progress is boundless. In this short comment, I want to expand on his thoughts by reexamining the cardinal tenets of that faith, since they embody a set of values that distract us from building a society that promotes good health, an infinitely more difficult task than building a better sick care system.

Let’s get even more pragmatic about our values and talk about accountability.

It is a business truism that if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Our healthcare system is incredibly adept at measuring revenue, procedures performed, and patients moved out the door. In our current system, physicians and facilities get tangible rewards for managing these measures efficiently. However, research such as the Dartmouth Atlas illustrates that more of these things—payments, procedures, and patient throughput—aren’t yielding better health outcomes…

Liberty. Justice, Responsibility, Solidarity.

These are some of the American Values highlighted in the Hasting Centers report on “Connecting American Values with Health Reform”.

Watching health reform unfold here in Washington, however, that “Connection” is painfully elusive. The debate is not a careful calibration of competing rights, values and obligations. It’s a political moshpit. Instead of values, we have vitriol…