Put the Consumer in Charge

While I'm on the topic of informed patients, here's an interesting question for you about the American healthcare system: Why Not Put the Consumer in Charge?

Dr. George D. Lundberg, Editor-in-Chief of Medscape General Medicine, has this to say:

Many Americans are pushing the concept of consumer-driven care. Most healthcare already is self-care. So, why not empower consumers with good information so that they can take charge of their health? After all, it is their health! Why not let individuals make the purchasing decisions directly, spending their own money, so as to inject free-market components into the otherwise skewed medical marketplace? I like this idea as far as it goes, and I believe it is worth doing. But it contains fundamental flaws that prevent it from being a panacea.