Virtually everyone agrees that our health care system needs reform. But what kind of reform? Some want a return to the system that prevailed in the 1950s. Others would like to see the adaptation of the government-run systems prevalent in other countries. The latter, national health insurance or single-payer health insurance, appears to be gaining ground in the United States. Before Americans find themselves participating in a health care system that has failed in every country it was adopted, we should be asking ourselves whether such a system is effective and efficient. In Lives at Risk, the authors examine the critical failures of national health insurance systems without focusing on minor blemishes or easily correctable problems. In doing so, the purpose is to identify the problems common to all countries with national health insurance and to explain why these problems emerge. Most national health care systems are in a state of sustained internal crisis as costs rise and the stated goals of universal access and quality care are not met. In almost all cases, the reason is the same: the politics of medicine. The problems of government-run health care systems flow inexorably from the fact that they are government-run rather than market driven.

"Thoroughly examines the systemic failures of national health insurance programs around the world. It identifies problems inherent in government-run health care and explains why these problems inevitably emerge. And, it demolishes one by one the prevailing myths put forward by advocates of national health insurance as the solution to issues confronting American health care." - Coverings

"Anybody who is tempted by the Canada [single-payer health insurance] model should read Lives at Risk." - National Review

"Recommended." - CHOICE

"If you're looking for intellectual ammunition to refute the perennial myths about the triumph of socialized medicine in the rest of the developed world, this book is essential." - JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association

"Goodman, Musgrave and Herrick do not just make a hard-boiled assessment of single-payer systems, then run for cover. Instead of the usual worn-out generalities and obsolete assumptions, they point to specific ways to harness the intelligence of consumers and the power of the free market to improve health care in the U.S.. Regardless of whether the reader agrees with the authors' conclusions, Lives at Risk helps us to understand how different policy approaches might lead to two very different outcomes for the U.S. health care system: complete meltdown under single-payer health care or transformation into a system driven by consumer demand instead of health care bureaucrats and political expediency." - Health Insurance Underwriter

"Goodman and company's book does an especially good job of casting doubt on the common belief that more governmental control of health care will prove more rational, productive, and fair than our current market-state mix." - Reason