Like any complex issue the answer is probably “all of the above.” In other words the problem of rising health care costs has many causes all of which need to be addressed if we are going to have a significant impact. We need to be realistic about the potential of addressing each contribution, however. It is tempting to blame the culture of medicine and overuse of procedures, because that is entirely fixable. I also agree with Gawande that optimizing health care to take maximal advantage of expertise and specialists is a good way to go. Specialty care is generally more cost effective.
We probably, however, will have to face the uncomfortable truth that a major contribution to rising health care costs is that we simply have the technology to
We probably, however, will have to face the uncomfortable truth that a major contribution to rising health care costs is that we simply have the technology to