13. Blowing Sand Out of the System

“Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.”

Edsger Dijkstra

The process by which providers are paid for their services is the most important single source of grit in the gears of the healthcare machine, but there are plenty of others. Having addressed the question of financing and paying for healthcare previously, it’s time to tackle two other system ills: well-intentioned but dysfunctional government regulation, and medical malpractice.

The Role of Government in Healthcare

It’s relatively easy to see where the actions of government have gone wrong in healthcare—from aiding and abetting in the fragmentation of healthcare payment and services to promulgating regulations and payment systems that are too ...

Get Overhauling America’s Healthcare Machine: Stop the Bleeding and Save Trillions now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.