Today, that's changed. A revolution has occurred in health care. The world of health care, insulated for most of the twentieth century from the manipulations of Adam Smith's invisible hand, suddenly became a marketplace, with a bewildering array of options and choices. It's a frightening marketplace. After all, undergoing a coronary bypass operation is a lot different from buying a car.
Choices are nice, but the responsibility that goes with choice in health care can be awesome.
In the old days, for better or worse, you trusted your doctor to do what was right. Today, you must trust yourself. These questions are all the more difficult because they are so often accompanied by powerful emotions. It's also a badly flawed marketplace. Doctors and hospitals still cling to the old ways and resist relinquishing their monopoly over medical information.