Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
An informed argument for reworking the broken market-based US health-care system by making cost and quality more transparent
The United States has the most expensive health-care system in the world. While policy-makers have argued over who is at fault for this, the system has been quietly moving toward high-deductible insurance plans that require patients to pay large amounts out of pocket before insurance kicks in. The idea behind this shift is that patients will become better consumers of health care when forced to pay for their medical expenses.
Laying bare the perils of the current situation, Peter A. Ubel--a physician and behavioral economist--notes that even when patients have time to shop around, health-care costs remain largely opaque, difficult to access, and hard to compare. Arguing for a middle path between a market-based and a completely free system, Ubel envisions more transparent, smarter health-care plans that tie the prices of treatments to the value they provide so that people can receive the care they deserve.