The Road to Reform: The Future of Health Care in America

Abstract

Eli Ginzberg, a senior and respected health policy analyst, has written<i>The Road to Reform</i>"specifically to inform the concerned public, not a handful of experts" about the need and the prospects for health care reform in the United States. The book is a lucid, brief, and credible review of the current state of the American health care system, how it got where it is, and what reforms are needed. Interested citizens will enjoy reading it; two or three hours of attention will provide them with the background needed to understand the current policy debate. Physicians and others who have followed the debate will find little new but may be interested in a distinguished expert's viewpoint. Like other analysts, Ginzberg attributes the health care cost spiral in major part to the growth of third-party financing mechanisms, which interpose between the consumer and the cost of health care services. He gives