From a giant of health care policy, an engaging and enlightening account of why American health care is so expensive--and why it doesn't have to be

Uwe Reinhardt was a towering figure and moral conscience of health care policy in the United States and beyond. Famously bipartisan, he advised presidents and Congress on health reform and originated central features of the Affordable Care Act. In Priced Out, Reinhardt offers an engaging and enlightening account of today's U.S. health care system, explaining why it costs so much more and delivers so much less than the systems of every other advanced country, why this situation is morally indefensible, and how we might improve it.

The problem, Reinhardt says, is not one of economics but of social ethics. There is no American political consensus on a fundamental question other countries settled long ago: to what extent should we be our brothers' and sisters' keepers when it comes to health care? Drawing on the best evidence, he guides readers through the chaotic, secretive, and inefficient way America finances health care, and he offers a penetrating ethical analysis of recent reform proposals. At this point, he argues, the United States appears to have three stark choices: the government can make the rich help pay for the health care of the poor, ration care by income, or control costs. Reinhardt proposes an alternative path: that by age 26 all Americans must choose either to join an insurance arrangement with community-rated premiums, or take a chance on being uninsured or relying on a health insurance market that charges premiums based on health status.

An incisive look at the American health care system, Priced Out dispels the confusion, ignorance, myths, and misinformation that hinder effective reform.

Uwe E. Reinhardt, Ph.D., who passed away November 13, 2017, taught at Princeton University from 1968 until 2017. A native of Germany, he taught courses in both micro- and macro-economic theory and policy, accounting for commercial, private nonprofit and governmental enterprises, financial management for commercial and nonprofit enterprises, and health economics and policy. 

During 1987–1990, Professor Reinhardt was a member of the National Leadership Commission on Health Care, a private sector initiative established to develop options for health care reform, and he also served on that body’s successor, the National Leadership Coalition on Health Care. He was a past president of the Association for Health Services Research (now AcademyHealth). From 1978–1993, Professor Reinhardt served on the Board of the Trustees of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, where he was a member of its Mortgage, Board, and Finance Committees.

Source: The Commonwealth Fund