The Changing Locus of Decision Making in the Health Care Sector

In the 1970s, the health policy debate focused on whether government or the medical profession should control the health care system. This article asserts that that struggle between two forms of centralized control was both less promising and less consequential than the devolution of decision-making authority upon consumers and their agents that is occurring today and that seems likely to continue as competitive forces become stronger and opportunities for meaningful consumer choice increase. What we are witnessing is the simultaneous deprofessionalization and depoliticization of important decisions affecting health care, a decentralization and diversification of the system that is opening new possibilities for translating diverse consumer desires into provider performance. Although covering much familiar ground, this article links a variety of seemingly discrete issues under the decentralization theme. Its object in developing this theme is to escape some of the sterility of the competition-versus-regulation debate and to show the historical and ethical significance of the major changes that are under way in the health care sector today.