How do you know that you're getting the best treatment? Cancer surgery success rates vary widely, yet patients may not have access to the information they need to choose a surgeon.
1994 paper on health care effectiveness.
Health Care and "Rationing"
Opponents of government involvement in health care demonize "rationing", which implies a denial of necessary care. Yet, as David Leonhart explains, rationing is always necessary. The choice is between good and bad rationing. Spending money on ineffective treatment takes resources away from more effective treatment, or prevention, or income that could be spent on other things. See this article by Peter Singer - a professor of bioethics at Princeton University - on "Why We Must Ration Health Care". He points out - correctly - that we currently ration health care based on ability to pay for insurance. Opponents of health care reform in the United States raise the prospect of some bureaucrat denying you the health care you need, but that's what private insurer bureaucrats do now.
Health Care and Incentives
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/better-medical-care-for-less/
Low Medicaid payments in Maine have led doctors to close private practices and move to hospitals where they have more market power to jack up rates to private insurers.
