Abstract
There has recently been a resurgence of interest in reforming the health care system in the United States. Policy makers have been looking to the national health systems and cost-containment mechanisms in other industrialized nations, particularly Canada and the former West Germany, as models for reform
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. Detailed descriptions of the Canadian and German systems have been published in the past several years
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One element that has been missing from this examination is an assessment by practicing physicians of how well their health care systems function. Physicians are in a unique position to make this assessment because . . .