1. Health status can be measured.

2. Free care does not make people healthier—but they use more care, including care that’s useful and care that’s not.

3. When people have to pay more out-of-pocket, they proportionally reduce the amount of care they use—both necessary and unnecessary care.

4. How physicians are paid influences how they practice.

5. Quality of care can be measured.

6. Quality of care varies dramatically by where one lives, by socio-economic status, in some cases by hospital or doctor.

7. The appropriateness of care can be determined.

8. Geography is a powerful predictor of health service use.

9. Integrated care for depression improves outcomes.

10. Physicians and patients need smart tools to support health decision-making.

11. The U.S. health care system is wasteful, but one person’s waste is another’s income.

12. The most powerful determinants of health are socio-economic.