Half of U.S. Spending on Health Care May Be Wasted
Posted by Victoria E. Knight
December 2, 2008, 8:39 am
The US spends more than two trillion dollars a year on health care, but are Americans getting full value for their money? “No”, answers just about anyone who is anyone inside the health-care system.
“Our health-care system is fraught with waste,” Gary Kaplan, chairman of Seattle’s cutting-edge Virginia Mason Medical Center, tells the Washington Post.
washingtonpost.com
As much as half of the $2.3 trillion spent today does nothing to improve health, he said.
The comments echo remarks made by none other than Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in June this year. “Improving the performance of our health-care system is without doubt one of the most important challenges our nation faces,” he said at the time.
Sorting out the mess is going to be a major test for President-elect Barack Obama who pledged during his campaign to cut the average American family’s health care tab by $2,500. Among the money-saving ideas offered by experts to the Washington Post: shift large sums from disease management into prevention and wellness. Another recommendation: change the way doctor’s are paid from the current fee-for-service payment program which some say leads to lots of unnecessary tests.
Experts say the growing use of new medical technologies and treatments also needs review. And let’s not forget about the current buzzword: comparative effectiveness .
However, even when data shine a light on the problems, change has been slow in coming. For decades now, researchers at Dartmouth College have demonstrated wide disparities in the cost and quality of care around the country. Some American employers are starting to take advantage of these differences in their benefits programs, others want to send staff for cheaper treatment abroad.
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