Health care is so complex that even smart people don’t fully understand it. We asked Dr. Contrarian, purveyor of all things wild and wacky, to provide a glossary of common health care terms even the not-so-smart can understand.

• Health care reform. A campaign by special interest groups to add at least $1 trillion in new dollars to the medical industry over the next ten years.
• Health insurance. A health care payment scheme that takes you out of the picture and fosters the illusion that someone else is picking up your tab.
• Rationing. What happens when you don’t get the health care you want and feel entitled to. When this happens to others, it’s called the intelligent allocation of scarce resources.

Read more – if you can stand it – in this month’s The Drift.