No Payor System

An article in the New England Journal of Medicine examined socioeconomic inequalities in health in a number of European countries. The authors identified several socioeconomic anomalies that were not easily explained within the context of their study. They are presented below with this author's comments.

Whenever reporters present documentories on universal healthcare services in Europe or elsewhere they ask three standard questions whose answer in America is an embarrassment. But are the expected answers so reasonable?

Controlling healthcare cost seems to be impossible. Attempts at constraint imposed by government or managed care fail to show any indication of success. In their wake access to care becomes more difficult. What is the problem?