50 YEARS OF FAILURE

Book excerpt: America is at a crossroads in healthcare policy. We cannot afford the status quo any longer. Our healthcare system is too expensive, unjustifiably complex, lacking in transparency, and short on viable options. It offers consumers almost no voice in their own purchasing decisions. The resulting frustration often turns to outrage misdirected at the providers, which prompts cries for more government regulation. The irony is that regulation, excessive, irrational, and ineffectual, is at the root of our discontent. Few Americans understand this because few understand the dysfunctional system that Congress has put in place over the last 50 years. If we are to take charge of our healthcare destiny, we need first to understand the state of the industry, how we have gotten to this unsustainable and intolerable point, and learn from our past mistakes. 50 Years of Failure offers a unique approach to gaining a fresh perspective on American healthcare. Using Congressional reports, audits, and other publicly available information the public almost never sees let alone uses, this book reveals how Congress has failed in its mission to deliver healthcare at a reasonable cost via Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs while simultaneously succeeding in preventing a free marketplace from delivering efficient and effective solutions for everyone. 50 Years of Failure delineates and details the inadequacies of bureaucratic fiat to effectively design and beneficially control 20% of our economy. It demonstrates the urgent imperative for Congress to change course and permit competitive market forces that drive other industries to determine how care is delivered, and at what price. Without our immediate action, we may forever lose the ability to achieve the goal of quality, efficiency, and consumer choice in American healthcare.