ABSTRACT
The daily press is a potent reminder that for a number of years the United States has been engaged in fruitless discussions about how to reform its health care system. Alain Enthoven is a sophisticated health care analyst and Milton Friedman won the Nobel Prize in economics. Neither Enthoven nor Friedman took the time and trouble to assess the American health care system within the fabric of American society as it is—not as they want it to be. Since the late 1930s the federal government, cognizant of the difficulties many low-income people face in obtaining an apartment or a house on the private market, has pursued a range of subsidy policies. The history of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) shows weakness in terms of financial probity and a neglect of administrative competence. The medical specialty societies are heavily involved in providing continuing educational opportunities for their members.
