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Edited by Timothy H. Engstrom and Wade L. Robinson
304 pp, $45.50
Rochester, NY, University of Rochester Press, 2007
ISBN-13: 978-1-5804-6226-6

JAMA. 2008;300(8):966.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Tired of hearing economic pundits and policy wonks repeat the same points regarding health care delivery conundrums? The editors of this collection of essays argue that they have an effective antidote: a dispassionate assessment of the moral consequences of how health care is delivered in the United States. Potential readers might be put off at the prospects of a classic dry assessment of ethical trade-offs and value propositions. While some of the included essays have sections that prove to be difficult going, they are also anything but dispassionate: the authors express a clear conviction that a rationalized health care system with a single payer is morally superior to the current system.

What can ethicists contribute to discussions of health care reform? For starters, they can ask the tough questions, and this volume contains plenty. For example, is health care a right or a responsibility? What are the moral implications of . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Timothy G. Ferris, MD, MPH, Reviewer
Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Health Policy
Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts
tferris@partners.org