Study concludes health care system wasteful, yet has opportunity to improve

The report depicts a system that saves lives in miraculous fashion, but is also expensive and outmoded and in some cases downright Kafkaesque

By Annie Lowrey

The New York Times

The American medical system squanders 30 cents of every dollar spent on health care, according to new calculations by the respected Institute of Medicine. But in all that waste and misuse, policy experts and economists see a significant opportunity — a way to curb runaway health spending, to improve medical outcomes and even to put the economy on sounder footing.

“Everybody from Paul Krugman to Paul Ryan agrees it is essential to restrain costs,” said Dr. Mark D. Smith, the president of the California HealthCare Foundation and the chairman of the committee that wrote the report, referring to the liberal economist and Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, and the conservative Wisconsin congressman who is Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential running mate. “The health care industry agrees, too.”

The Institute of Medicine report — its research led by 18 best-of-class clinicians, policy experts and business leaders — details how the American medical system wastes an estimated $750 billion a year while failing to deliver reliable, top-notch care. That is roughly equivalent to the annual cost of health coverage for 150 million workers, or the budget of the Defense Department, or the 2008 bank bailout.

Continued: 

Also:

Health Care Premiums Rise Slightly/The New York Times 

Share this!

Additional Articles

Top master-planned communities for 2024

By AZ Big Media Here are the Top 10 master-planned communities in Arizona, based on public voting for the 2024 edition of Ranking Arizona, the state’s biggest and most comprehensive business opinion poll. Ranking Arizona

Read More »
News Categories

Get Our Twice Weekly Newsletter!

* indicates required

Rose Law Group pc values “outrageous client service.” We pride ourselves on hyper-responsiveness to our clients’ needs and an extraordinary record of success in achieving our clients’ goals. We know we get results and our list of outstanding clients speaks to the quality of our work.

September 2012
M T W T F S S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930