Background: Surveys show that people are cutting back on drug purchases [link] and elective surgeries (see below) in response to the economic slowdown. The Commonwealth Fund claims that more than half of American chronic patients skip care because of cost [study gated, but with abstract]. Clearly, they think this is bad. So here's the question:

Should health care consumption be independent of
income and relative prices?

OR

Should health care consumption vary, just like the consumption of
other goods and services?