Reform we need: A new law in Michigan will make it easier for residents to contract services directly with a doctor instead of going through a third-party insurance mechanism.

For the first time ever, Blue Cross Blue Shield has released price data on surgery costs. This is huge news.

Hospitals and medical boards are pushing various medical specialities to dispense with unnecessary care when treating patients. So far, the results show that we can do just fine without some of the health care we get.

Doctors are fleeing private practices for the security of hospitals. The exodus will be a disaster for U.S. health care.

The US could save anywhere from 1 to 8.5 billion dollars a year by reducing the inefficiencies in hospital waiting rooms. This is an example of the kind of expensive defects in our health care system that aren’t even really on most people’s policy radars, but few reforms will be really achievable until we can a handle on the waste and inefficiencies currently making the system expensive and dysfunctional.