Why is health care regarded as something that the market cannot provide? In this essay, I argue that the problem is mental illness.

Anyone who believes that we can afford collectively what we cannot afford individually is delusional…

Suppose that a group of friends is getting ready to go out for dinner. At first, they consider a fancy restaurant, but then it is pointed out that the price of a meal there is higher than anyone in the group can afford. Somebody pipes up and says, “That’s ok. We can just split the check.” Does that make sense?

For Discussion. The essay argues that the American health care system is too collectivist. The conventional wisdom seems to be the opposite: compared with other industrial countries, the American system is not collectivist enough. Is there merit in the conventional wisdom?