U.S. Health Care Costs

The article Why Does Health Care Cost So Much in the United States? by Sarah Clune and Jason Kane is really informative and helps to clarify the reasons for differences in health care costs around the world. As referenced in the article, I watched Frontline's documentary, "Sick Around the World," which was really interesting and described the different health care systems around the world; as to which is the best, that is still up for debate.  I think that this article, which includes an interview with Matthias Rumpf from the OECD, is a great supplement to the documentary and this topic of conversation in general.

Some key takeaways from this article are summarized in a list of bullet points. Rumpf said:

"A few things are common to the high-performing health systems:

• An emphasis on primary care, to ensure that most care takes place outside of (expensive) hospitals
• A system which encourages use of (cheaper) generic drugs, when there are alternatives to expensive brands
• Tight regulations of prices and fees, for at least those services that are paid for by public programs
• Adherence to clinical guidelines, so that excessive use of expensive diagnostics or unnecessary health care is prevented"

I encourage you to read the full article here.