Public health efforts and those of private medicine complement each other and together serve the spectrum of health service needs of American society. Why, then, has their relationship been so contentious?

The Institute of Medicine report of 1999 cites two major studies that establish medical errors as one of the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. Should the federal government take the necessary steps to monitor the status of this high-risk situation, as it does with other epidemics, or should the government continue to trust the providers of health care to deal forthrightly with the problem?

Analyze why legislative attempts to address only one of the trio of rising costs, lack of universal access, or variable quality of health care only worsens the remaining two.