PUP 4931r Lecture Notes - Lecture 27: Gross Domestic Product, Knee Replacement, Unnecessary Health Care
5 Apr 2018
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Document Summary
There is no one villain in the battle against rising health care costs. Currently, the united states spends more on health care services than any other country, exceeding . 6 trillion, or about 18 percent of gross domestic product. Most years, medical spending rises faster than inflation and the economy as a whole. Many factors and nearly everyone contributes to those increases: we pay our doctors, hospitals and other medical providers in ways that reward doing more, rather than being efficient. Most insurers including traditional medicare pay doctors, hospitals and other medical providers under a fee-for-service system that reimburses for each test, procedure or visit. Coupled with a medical system that is not integrated, this encourages overtreatment, including repetitive tests, the report says. Medical systems and doctors are also looking to electronic medical records as a way to improve coordination and reduce unnecessary, repeated tests: we"re growing older, sicker and fatter.
