Patients as Consumers: Making the Health Care System Our Own. 9th Annual Herbert Lourie Memorial Lecture on Health Policy.

I ask you to think about our health care system. Think beyond the issues that are in front of us today: the anxiety we have about managed care, obtaining our own health care and paying for it, the survival of Medicare, and the unpredictable impact of government regulations. Think about our *health*, what we want from our health care system, what we're spending all this money for, and what we care about for ourselves and for our families. The challenge we face in the next five, ten, or fifteen years is to place the American health care system under the control of the people who pay for it, who receive the care, and who care the most about the health of the people in our communities.