The current debate over health care reform has created a brisk market for information, and Orient, the executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, here weighs in with the conservatives on health care reform, arguing that "a free market would bring the best possible medical care to the greatest number of people at the lowest possible cost." The book makes the case for freedom of enterprise and inquiry in medicine--a system under which the "heart of medicine is the relationship of one doctor to one patient." Orient believes that the medical profession is already over-administered and controlled, like a "patient who suffers from polypharmacy." She predicts the further enslavement of physicians should a nationalized system emerge. Her descriptions of the British and German models of socialized medicine (both of which permit private insurance and private medicine) and the Canadian system are used to point out the flaws in state-run medicine. According to the author, the ultimate result of most reform plans would be "the destruction of our traditional forms of medical practice." Whether or not you agree that health care is a privilege and not a right, and that the proposed changes will mean less freedom, this thought-provoking defense of private medicine should be read by all interested in the health care dialogue.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
The paradox that universal health care means restricted health care is validated by evaluating the state of British, Canadian, and German health-care systems. Closer to home, Orient examines the consequences of third-party payer systems in the U.S., which now wield control over the quality of health care provided by VA hospitals and HMOs/PPOs, and by independent physicians to Medicare/Medicaid or privately insured patients. Although the public is generally unsympathetic to the plight of doctors beleaguered by third-party regulations, the effects of bureaucratic second-guessing on patient care demand critical consideration, which Orient provides anecdotally. Particularly alarming potential side effects of national health care, such as compromised medical privacy in this time of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, and, chillingly, involuntary euthanasia, are discussed. Orient presents her concerns convincingly, with a touch of wry humor that lightens but does not diminish such worrisome prospects. Brenda Grazis
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