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Opinion: To fix healthcare, turn patients into customers

By Bloomberg  
   January 04, 2013

For almost 80 years in the U.S., the left and right have been arguing about health care. To the left, it's a fundamental right of all citizens, one the government should fund from our collective resources. To the right, while society might want to aid those most in need, health care is best left to the market to maximize innovation, quality and efficiency. Most of our health policy can be described as a compromise between these two positions. And what compromise has bequeathed us is a mess. Rather than see these two ideas as being in conflict, we need to understand how they can support each other. I've argued that the only way to restore normal functioning and incentives in health care is for patients to regain their status as customers.

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