Priceless

Excellent discussion of what's wrong with our current health care system, and how we are continuing down the wrong track.  Goodman supports my belief that most of our problems are a product of the perverse incentives and unintended consequences of well-intended laws.  He reports such findings as that when individuals are paying for a portion of their own care they spend substantially less on health care with no noticeable difference in outcomes.  Heath insurance isn't really insurance against risk at all; it's actually prepayment for normal healthcare needs.  Insurers are incentivized to overtreat the healthy and undertreat the sick.  They advertise for the healthy and try to avoid those with forseeable health problems.  Of course, the problem with losing health insurance when you change jobs is entirely a function of getting insurance through your employer, in turn a function of the tax benefit of employer-provided insurance, which in turn was largely a product of wage and price controls during World War II.  Government programs (Medicare and Medicaid) underpay providers, hence, many providers won't accept those on government programs.  Consequence?  One-third of emergency room visits are by Medicaid patients who don't have a primary care physician.  And in countries with national health care systems, access to primary care physicians is easier and to specialists is harder.  Hence, the higher mortality rates in places like the UK and Canada than in the US for many forms of cancer. 
  Anyway, any book that supports my beliefs is a great book.  I highly recommend it.