The American health care system is filled with paradoxes. The United States is #1 in the world for per person health care expenditures, and yet is not #1 -- and often near the bottom of developed countries -- for almost all major health outcomes. In the case of heart disease,...

The financial markets are gyrating. The world economy is teetering. The U.S. government is making a $700 billion or more bailout to avert a worldwide disaster. No surprise, health care has become a side show. Or has it? Not only does this upheaval actually make health-care reform more pressing, it...

When it comes to health care reform, the question is no longer whether, but what: What kind of reform is needed?

The current health care system is dysfunctional. The financing part -- how we pay for health care -- is inequitable, inefficient, and fiscally unsustainable. For instance, the McKinsey Global...