FIGURE 1—

The structure of the US health care system today.

Note. Information (?) flows from patient to physician. Care and information (+) flow back to the patient. Financial flows ($) proceed from employers (employer) to insurers (insurer; private or public) and thence to care providers (doctors), who provide to insurers information (?) about the care being provided to individual patients (patients). Insurers receive lump sum payments, which are distributed in much smaller amounts to care providers for specific services.