The bipartisan consensus on healthcare cost control
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It would be inaccurate to say that there are two main methods of controlling healthcare costs. But it's fair, I think, to say that there are two poles, with an important if unproven class of measures between them. One pole is government control over the price of medical services, procedures and products, including drugs. The means vary widely, from direct government payment of providers (the U.K.) to regional government approval of rates negotiated by all insurers (Switzerland, for hospitals). Government rate-setting is employed by every wealthy country except the United States, which is also to say every country that provides universal health insurance to its citizens. Not coincidentally, the U.S. spends two-and-a-half times the OECD per capita healthcare spending average and almost twice as much as a percentage of GDP (as of
The bipartisan consensus on healthcare cost control
The bipartisan consensus on healthcare cost…
The bipartisan consensus on healthcare cost control
It would be inaccurate to say that there are two main methods of controlling healthcare costs. But it's fair, I think, to say that there are two poles, with an important if unproven class of measures between them. One pole is government control over the price of medical services, procedures and products, including drugs. The means vary widely, from direct government payment of providers (the U.K.) to regional government approval of rates negotiated by all insurers (Switzerland, for hospitals). Government rate-setting is employed by every wealthy country except the United States, which is also to say every country that provides universal health insurance to its citizens. Not coincidentally, the U.S. spends two-and-a-half times the OECD per capita healthcare spending average and almost twice as much as a percentage of GDP (as of