U.S. Health Care System Faces 'Expert Service Problem,' Columnist Writes

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 09 Nov 2007 - 9:00 PDT

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Possibly the "biggest flaw" with the health care system is that patients in most cases "aren't sophisticated enough to make an independent judgment" about the medical services they require and thus have to rely on physicians, columnist David Leonhardt writes in the New York Times. According to Leonhardt, economists in some cases refer to such a situation, which also can occur in the field of auto repair, as an "expert service problem" because the "same expert who is diagnosing the flaw is the one who will be paid to fix it."

Leonhardt writes that, "when a situation is too complex for an amateur to grasp -- and when it involves shades of gray -- you probably shouldn't expect to get a purely objective diagnosis from someone who has a financial incentive to give you something." According to Leonhardt, the "expert service problem is more serious in medicine than auto repair because most people are less willing to question a doctor than an auto mechanic." He adds, "Any effort to reform American medicine has to grapple with these conflicts of interest" (Leonhardt, New York Times, 11/7).

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