“If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”
– Sir Isaac Newton, circa 1676
It is undeniable that we are in the midst of a new era in health care. Whereas previous breakthroughs in medicine have included vaccines and antibiotics, the human race is now poised for the next big explosion – like the promise of stem cell technology or the hope of gene therapy. But putting aside the science of medicine for a moment, the United States in particular has seen a remarkable growth in the “politicization” of health care over the last two decades. In 2014, for example, the health care sector as a whole spent more money on lobbying efforts than the media, energy or defense sectors, and second only to the finance industry (no surprise there).1 The pharmaceutical lobby alone accounted for more than the agricultural, labor and defense...
