Patients who take a close look at medical science in search of treatments are often appalled by what they discover. On the one hand, there's academic research, a self-contained and self-absorbed universe of its own where data may be internally consistent (on a good day) and robustly reproducible, yet often has little relevance to real-world clinical conditions.

Last month, the Drug Enforcement Administration abruptly revoked the narcotics license held by the distributor Cardinal Health, preventing that firm from shipping prescription pain drugs to thousands of Florida pharmacies and hospitals. It's the latest tactic in the DEA's struggle to stem the illicit use of prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin.

American Enterprise Institute (AEI) scholar Scott Gottlieb, MD a former senior adviser to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) warns that a new ruling by CMS will force people to get open-heart surgeries that might have been avoidable.

AEI Scholars are available to comment on the Independent Payment Advisory Board

This excerpt--from the book "Why ObamaCare Is Wrong for America"--introduces the concept of a patient-powered health care system.

The latest installment of ObamaCare is a scheme that’s uprooting the elderly poor and disabled who get care under Medicare and herding many into state-run Medicaid plans.

Of the many factors that make improving the health system difficult, few challenges are greater than the misty-eyed recollection – often from genuinely distinguished practitioners – of how great things used to be.  Doctors were highly regarded authority figures, pure and beloved, while patients were meek and grateful in the presence of such brilliance and expertise.

President Obama's health care plan will leave patients with fewer options, leaving many consumers to find that their health policies and doctors are no longer available to them.