In the mid-1970s, an unconventional health researcher named Jack Wennberg discovered an unusually high rate of hysterectomies in a small town in Maine. If the rate continued, nearly 70 percent of Lewiston women would be without their wombs by age 70. That was just one of a series of studies conducted by Wennberg that led him to a very surprising conclusion about health care: a large portion of the medical care Americans get is unnecessary. And the structure of the health care system is the reason why. The system can push doctors to prescribe care that doesn't improve patient health.
