CONFRONTING THE COST OF HEALTH CARE: “One of the major factors contributing to the general feeling that people aren’t as well off as they used to be is that they are consuming more and more of their income as health benefits. Though there’s obviously controversy over how much of this represents real gains, there’s no question that a lot of it is an actual material improvement in peoples’ lives. . . . The problem is that people don’t feel richer. In part that’s because the costs are hidden–employers rarely tell you how much health care you’re being ‘paid’ with–and in part it’s because almost all of our health care compensation consists of embedded options, rather than direct consumption.”