America's Health in the Balance. Choice or Chance?

Excerpt

Given his esteemed career, when Howard Hiatt writes about America's health care system we are wise to consider his thoughts carefully. Hiatt enumerates our strengths (development of high technology) and weaknesses (37 million Americans without health insurance, uncritical application of medical resources), interweaving frequent clinical vignettes and references to the peer-reviewed medical literature.

The case extending his classic argument about the limitations inherent in the "medical commons" is critical to Hiatt's concerns. By describing the delivery systems in Britain and Canada, he suggests alternatives for the United States, culminating in Health 2000, a mythical proposal to solve the shortcomings. He