PAYING FOR MEDICAL CARE:

AbstractHow to pay for medical care? This question, which periodically has been the subject of vigorous debate in the United States for more than half a century, has moved to the forefront of public attention in the wake of rapid increases in the cost of care and heightened concern about inequality of access. More than a dozen different proposals for some type of national health insurance have been submitted in Congress, and major interest groups—private insurance companies, hospitals, organized medicine, and organized labor—have staked out their positions in great detail. Before considering the pros and cons of national health insurance and the implications of alternative proposals, a few general remarks about medical care finance and the present U.S. system are in order….