title: National health insurance in America--can we practice with it? Can we continue to practice without it?
abstract: Health insurance in the United States is failing patients and physicians alike. In this country 37 million uninsured face economic barriers to care, and the health of many suffers as a result. The "corporatization" of medical care threatens professional values with an unprecedented administrative and commercial intrusion into the daily practice of medicine. Competitive strategies have also failed their most ostensible goal--cost control. In contrast, Canada offers a model of a national health insurance plan that provides universal and comprehensive coverage, succeeds at restraining health care inflation, and does little to abrogate the clinical autonomy of physicians in private practice. I propose that American physicians relent in their historical opposition to national health insurance and participate in the development of a universal, public insurance plan responsive to the needs of both patients and physicians.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Grumbach
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D003363:Cost Control; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D009310:National Health Insurance, United States / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011362:Professional Corporations / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States