Abstract

In a new and important book entitled TheManagedCareBluesandHowtoCureThem, a lifetime consumer advocate and a surgeon who witnessed the excesses and unaccountable errors of his colleagues under fee for service explain with deft hands the promise of managed care, its problems, and solutions to them. Walter Zelman and Robert Berenson show empathy for the consumer backlash, provider resentment, and the patients' rights movement that has spawned a thousand bills to prevent possibly unethical actions. Yet they believe these efforts to regulate managed care are misdirected and will prevent it from realizing its potential