Report: Understanding the Choices in Health Care Reform: The Health Care Study Group
This commentary is the joint product of a group of concernedscholars, many of them long associated with this journal. Itassesses the debate over health care reform with the goal ofminimizing the many myths and misunderstandings that exist.We address eight issues most likely to engender confusion: (1)the question whether cost control and universal coverage arecontradictory goals, (2) the definition of universal coverage,(3) sources of bureaucracy in a reformed health care system,(4) the meanings of "competition" and "regulation," (5) thedifference between short- and long-term measures to controlcosts, (6) subsidization of universal health care, (7) the roleof medical care professionals in decision making about the deliveryof services, and (8) the meaning of "choice" for patients andcaregivers.