Managed Care and the Morality of the Marketplace

Whether health care should be subjected to the values of the marketplace is a fundamental question facing us today. A powerful trend in this direction is upon us, with enormous, well-financed companies already dominating the delivery of health care in many parts of the country. Although many in medicine believe that the unchecked expansion of managed care (particularly the investor-owned variety) could have dire consequences, few have spoken out. Instead, many leaders have accepted the new trend as a fait accompli and have begun to position their institutions to survive within the constraints of the marketplace. The threats are not . . .