Private cost containment.

Physicians should recognize that a more competitive health-care market would provide the best defense against government regulation. Aside from group-practice health-maintenance organizations, the cost-containment steps that might be taken in such a market are not well understood. In particular, little attention has been paid to how private health insurers might redefine their coverage to limit the cost-increasing effects of third-party payment. Insurer-provider agreements negotiated in a competitive environment would seem to be especially promising. Competing insurance plans would be variously organized and operated according to provider and consumer preferences. Traditional doctor-patient relations as well as fee-for-service payment could be preserved. The antitrust laws, while curbing concerted effort to prevent change, should assure that physicians are not exploited by dominant buyers. Lucrative opportunities already exist for enterprising and efficient providers.