Proponents of market-driven reform of U.S. health care agree that the worst solution to the problem of rapidly rising medical expenditures is government-imposed cost controls. They question the capacity of the federal government to manage something as complex as resource allocation in health care without unintended negative consequences. They propose instead to bring greater discipline to the health sector through market-based reforms and through innovation and cost-cutting driven by the private sector.
While there is agreement among pro-market advocates on the need for a functioning marketplace in the health sector, there is not complete unanimity on precisely what that would look like in practice.
Some stress the role of the consumer above all else -- the demand side of the market equation. They argue that the key missing ingredient in health care is cost and value-conscious decision-making by those actually using medical services.
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