Whats behind spiraling health care costs?
PHILADELPHIA — Lots of us think we know why American health care costs are rising faster than a speeding bullet, or at least faster than our GDP, incomes and inflation. It’s because we’re such profligate users of medical care. We run to the doctor at the first sign of a sniffle and demand heroic treatment until our final days. We may cringe at the bills, but we’re all after pain-free immortality. Plus, we’ve built the best health care system in the world. Industry experts see a much more complicated picture. Americans actually see doctors and stay in the hospital less than residents of other industrialized countries, they say. Our costs are high for a constellation of reasons involving relatively uncontrolled prices, insurance that masks real costs from consumers, heavy use of technology, wide variations in care and excessive administrative costs. Making a dent in this problem, as Washington is discovering, is a tough, disruptive job that not only would change the way people get care,