gerard anderson, health policy specialist, has a simple way to explain it. gerard anderson: i take them to a grocery store, and i show them l the different cereals, and say,e want toave oicen america. t'ta and i show them l ththinus.rent cereals, it doesn't seem to give us better health ca, it doesn't seem to give us lower costs, but it does give us choice, and we value choice above everything. from a practical point of view, the first decision many consumers are confronted with is how to finance their health care. the choices are simply to pay for it themselves, or to enroll in a private or public health insurance plan. a lot is said about the marketplace of health care. well, for half of people who are getting their health plan through an employer, their employer offers such a narrow range of plans that they-- the consumer-- feel that they are cut off from options they really would like to have. many employers only offer plans that require a patient co-pay or less expensive hmos. cost-sharing makes the assumption that the person can identify what's an appr