Competition and Monopoly in Medical Care

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Summary: A SPOTLIGHT ON PERVASIVE MONOPOLIES IN HEALTH CARE
Review: Health care is often characterized as a sector in which market rules, which optimize production and distribution elsewhere in the economy, should not apply. The author of this trim volume, a professor at UC Santa Barbara, has devoted his career to health economics. He turns a spotlight on hopsital monopolies, physician monopolies, and health insurance monopolies which, aided and abetted by government, have made health care way too expensive. The account includes clear explanations of important concepts, such as "moral hazard," "adverse selection," and "supply-induced demand." Nearly all relevant theoretical and empirical studies in health economics are cited and reviewed. The book is analytical and apolitical -- a gold mine for anyone wishing to understand the health economy. Health sector monopolists may feel naked if they continue to hide behind the banners of "quality" and "ethics" in the future. Their "rents" and "administrative slack" are fully expose