A fresh and comprehensive exploration of how health care rationing decisions are made, this book offers not specific criteria for rationing--like age or quality of life--but a comparative analysis of three alternative decision makers: consumers paying out of pocket, government and insurance officials setting limits on treatments and coverage, and physicians making decisions at the bedside. Hall's analysis reveals that none of these alternatives is uniformly superior, and, therefore, a mix of all three is inevitable.
The author develops his analysis along three lines of reasoning: political...

Between 1987 and 1991, the portion of Americans covered by individually purchased health insurance dropped 40per cent. Assuming the US will continue to rely on private financing for health care, the author clarifies benefits to society from an efficient health insurance market.