ABSTRACT
Despite some spectacular achievements and capabilities, the American medical services market system frustrates patients, caregivers and consumers alike. Our healthcare "system" leaves at least a third of us under-insured and a sixth of us with no real access to reliable medical services at all. What's more, people of different races, social classes, cultures, and language groups experience massive disparities in the availability of medical services and in their overall health status. Beyond financial fairness, the United States also fares badly when we look at the effect of race on health status and equal access to services. Our health status is not as good as that of other countries. Of all the factors that contribute to our ineffective spending, however, the author argues that the most significant comes out of a fundamental misunderstanding about the meaning of health and the necessary conditions for health.
