The health-care economy is filled with unusual and even unique economic relationships. One of the least understood involves the

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问题     The health-care economy is filled with unusual and even unique economic relationships. One of the least understood involves the peculiar roles of producer or "provider" and purchaser or "consumer" in the typical doctor-patient relationship. In most sectors of the economy, it is the seller who attempts to attract a potential buyer with various inducements of price, quality, and utility, and it is the buyer who makes the decision. Such condition, however, does not prevail in most of the health-care industry.
    In the health-care industry, the doctor-patient relationship is the mirror image of the ordinary relationship between producer and consumer. Once an individual has chosen to see a physician—and even then there may be no real choice—it is the physician who usually makes all significant purchasing decisions: whether the patient should return "next Wednesday", whether X-rays are needed, whether drugs should be prescribed, etc. It is a rare and sophisticated patient who will challenge such professional decisions or raise in advance questions about price, especially when the disease is regarded as serious.
    This is particularly significant in relation to hospital care. The physician must certify the need for hospitalization, determine what procedures will be performed, and announce when the patient may be discharged. The patient may be consulted about some of these decisions, but in the main it is the doctor’s judgments that are final. Little wonder then that in the eye of the hospital it is the physician who is the real "consumer." As a consequence, the medical staff represents the "power center" in hospital policy and decision-making, not the administration.
    Although usually there are in this situation four identifiable participants—the physician, the hospital, the patient, and the payer (generally an insurance carrier or government)—the physician makes the essential decisions for all of them. The hospital becomes an extension of the physician; the payer generally meets most of the bills generated by the physician/hospital, and for the most part the patient plays a passive role. We estimate that about 75-80 percent of health-care expenditures are determined by physicians, not patients. For this reason, the economy directed at patients or the general is relatively ineffective.
In the health-care industry, the patients ________.

选项 A、perform the role of being "providers"
B、decide which physician to consult
C、never raise questions about price
D、never consult with the doctors

答案A

解析 根据题干关键词health-care industry,patient定位到第2段首句。第2段首句中的mirror image表明医患关系与传统的生产者一消费者的关系相反,即医生充当消费者的角色,而患者充当生产者的角色,结合首段第2句中指出的生产者即提供者,可以推断选项A为答案。选项B与第2段第2句中两个破折号之间的内容相反;选项C中的never与第2段末句中的rare不符;选项D与第3段第3句中第一个分句的意思相反。
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