Making markets work: five steps to a better health care system

Although the U.S. health care system has made remarkable advancements, it is costly and wasteful, and it leaves many people without appropriate care. The challenge for public policy is to enable consumers and taxpayers to obtain good value for their health care dollars. Achieving this objective stands the greatest chance of success if health care markets function well. To make markets work, we recommend changes in five areas of public policy: tax reform, insurance reform, improved provision of information, enhanced competition, and malpractice reform. Our policy reforms will improve the productivity of the health care system, make insurance more affordable, reduce rates of uninsurance, and increase tax fairness and progressivity.