Since I mentioned Rashi Fein's wonderful quote earlier, might as well link to my review of Maggie Mahar's Money-Driven Medicine in the latest Washington Monthly:
[I]t's precisely that fundamental overvaluing of the free market that Mahar forces us to question. She quotes medical economist Rashi Fein's warning that “[w]e live in a society, not just an economy.” And our society has to decide if this is the care structure we want. Because the market has done nothing wrong here—it exists to seek profit, and thus provides no easy villains, just a plethora of unfortunate outcomes. It is up to us to decide if the ultimate goal of care should be cash, if our system of insurance should incentivize identifying those most in need of care so they can be denied access to it, if our hospitals should fret over the bottom line or the flat line, if our physicians should practice in a context that leaves them desperate to confide in the unknown reporter who leaves an unexpected message on their voicemail.
It is, in my humble opinion, the best review I've written, so interested parties should check it out.
