Wyoming senator is health care expert.

• Author: King, Martha
• Position: Brief Review

Fixing Our Broken Health Care System by Charles Scott. 2004. Endeavor Books--Mountain States Litho, Casper, Wyo., 232 pages, $19.95. (800) 548-9340 or msl@mtslitho.com

It's apparent that Wyoming State Senator Charles Scott paid attention in the dozens of NCSL-sponsored meetings and seminars he's attended. He quotes numerous experts from those meetings in his new book, Fixing Our Broken Health Care System. Admittedly, he also cites dozens of other sources, including journals read by true health policy wonks.

Senator Scott, a cattle rancher with a master's in business from Harvard, chairs the Wyoming Senate's Labor, Health and Social Services Committee. He also chaired NCSL's national Standing Committee on Health in 2002-03. His book is a combination of well-researched health data, policy issues and personal opinions that reflect his relatively conservative political philosophy. Scott's intention is to lay out a working understanding of the problems and recommend practical actions to deal with them.

The book covers numerous complex issues in understandable language, including malpractice...