Blind faith and choice.

During a year spent in Seattle as a Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, Rhiannon Tudor Edwards was “overwhelmed” by the choices offered among coffee, TV channels, and health care options, she recounts in her essay, “Blind Faith and Choice” (Health Affairs, Nov./Dec. 2005). But when Edwards, a senior research fellow in health economics at the University of Wales, developed a serious sinus infection, she had trouble tracking down a provider that would both agree to accept her “comprehensive” health insurance and schedule a timely appointment. Noting that in the U.K. waiting a day or two for an appointment with a general practitioner is routine, Edwards observes ironically that “in the U.S. there was more choice of providers unable to offer me an immediate appointment.”