The health-care economy is filled with unusual and even unique economic relationships. One of the least understood involves the 1 roles of producer or “provider” and purchaser or “consumer” in the typical doctor-patient relationship. In most sectors of the economy, it is the seller who attempts to attract a(n) 2 buyer with various inducements (引诱) of price, quality, and utility, and it is the buyer who makes the decision. Such condition,
3 , is not common in most of the health-care industry.
In the health-care industry, the doctor-patient relationship is the mirror image of the
4 relationship between producer and consumer. Once an individual has chosen to see a physician—and even then there may be no real choice– it is the physician who usually makes all significant 5 decisions: whether the patient should return “next Wednesday,” whether X-rays are needed, whether drugs should be prescribed, etc. It is a rare and experienced patient who will 6 such decisions made by experts or raise in advance questions about price, especially when the disease is regarded as 7 .
