Law Commons^™

The Elusive Ideal Of Market Competition In U.S. Health Care, Nathan Cortez

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This chapter, in the book Health Care and EU Law (TMC Asser Press 2011), explores how market competition has both driven and (somewhat ironically) undermined U.S. health reform efforts over the past few decades. More than its peers, the U.S. health care system looks to market-inspired theories and policy instruments, even in public programs like Medicare. But decades of promoting market ideals has not given Americans the health care system we desire. Still, the market question remains the basic dividing line in U.S. health policy.

This chapter explores how the U.S. health care system remains an international outlier, exploring American …