The Dysfunctional and Stable U.S. Health Care System
Is major health care reform inevitable? Don't bet on it.
The New England Journal of Medicine looks at "The Amazing Noncollapsing U.S. Health Care System" and pronouces it "disturbingly stable."
For roughly 40 years, health care professionals, policymakers, politicians, and the public have concurred that the system is careening toward collapse because it is indefensible and unsustainable, a study in crisis and chaos. This forecast appeared soon after Medicare and Medicaid were enacted and has never retreated. Such disquieting continuity amid change raises an intriguing question: If the consensus is so incontestable, why has the system not already collapsed? Perhaps pondering this question can yield insights into the system as the 2008 elections approach.
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