Correspondence
Learning from Failure in Health Care Reform
N Engl J Med 2008; 358:856-857February 21, 2008
- Article
To the Editor:
In Oberlander's Perspective article on failure in health care reform (Oct. 25 issue),1 the author's assessment of the current prospects for major reform is too bleak. Many changes since the failure of the Clinton plan make health care reform much more likely. Most important are the rising costs of care, which are becoming intolerable for the payers, including big business, the federal government, and insured individuals. Meanwhile, the number of uninsured is at record levels and rising rapidly — a national disgrace demanding correction.
The many businesses profiting from the present system are far outnumbered by those businesses in the rest of the economy that pay the runaway costs and need relief. Furthermore, the growing evidence of substandard and inaccessible care tells us we are not getting our money's worth, despite our huge expenditures. Finally, the medical profession itself — a necessary participant in any reform — is now confronting the issue. Polls show a sizable and growing fraction of physicians favoring major change.
It will take a few more years, but the handwriting is on the wall: this time, reform cannot be avoided.
1 ReferencesArnold S. Relman, M.D.
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
arelman@rics.bwh. harvard. edu 1
Oberlander J . Learning from failure in health care reform. N Engl J Med 2007;357:1677-1679
Full Text | Web of Science | Medline
- Citing Articles (1)
Citing Articles
1
R. M. Sade. (2008) Foundational Ethics of the Health Care System: The Moral and Practical Superiority of Free Market Reforms. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 33:5, 461-497
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