Just health care system reform.

America spends almost one trillion dollars on health care, a larger percentage of its gross national product than other industrialized nations, and yet millions are without adequate health care insurance. The current system gives neither providers, patients, nor insurers incentives to seek cost-effective care; at the same time, individuals with the greatest health care needs are excluded from the system. The answer is not, as some suggest, an expanded federal bureaucracy, but society must address the plight of the underinsured. This papers offers 11 policies which build on the strengths of the private market to offer to all citizens the benefits of the world's best medical system. Universal catastrophic health insurance, along with the necessary changes in the legal and tax systems, would shift resources to patients who are currently under-utilizing the system and also toward necessary and cost-effective treatments.