Health Care Cost Inflation

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Health Care Spending: What's in Store?

Resolving the question of whether or not the U.S. has finally gotten a handle on health care spending is vitally important, because the choices we make going forward will have profound implications for our economy, the financial wellbeing of millions of American families, and ultimately America's standing in the world.

Arthur L. Kellermann

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A Health Care Entitlement Worth Ending

The health care “entitlement” we need to reform is the notion that America's health care system is entitled to an ever-growing share of America's wealth, writes Arthur Kellermann.

Arthur L. Kellermann

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Do You Get What You Pay For? Maybe Not in Health Care

While the current state of the evidence does not provide clear guidance to policymakers seeking to address the twin pillars of health care quality and cost, it is apparent that researchers must produce more detailed data on how to reduce health care spending while improving quality, writes Peter Hussey.

Peter S. Hussey

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Health Care Cost Growth Is Hurting Middle-Class Families

Unfortunately, nearly every actor in our health care delivery system—hospitals, physicians, other health care providers, insurance companies and the manufacturers of drugs and devices—is currently focused on maximizing revenue growth, write Arthur Kellermann and David Auerbach.

Arthur L. Kellermann, David I. Auerbach

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Health Care Costs Are Killing Us

At a time when our country is teetering on the edge of a “fiscal cliff,” no challenge in health care is more important than reducing health care spending, writes Arthur L. Kellermann.

Arthur L. Kellermann

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Physicians Can Lead the Way in Reducing Health Care Waste

Physicians are in an ideal position to identify and eliminate health care waste by categorizing all medical services into four distinct types.

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Rising Health Care Costs and the Middle Class

A new RAND study finds that rising health care costs reduce the availability of and enrollment in employment-based private health insurance, and the financial protection provided by it, especially for middle class families.

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The Real Cost of Healthcare

What do we have to show for all of this spending? Lots of testing and treatment, but not enough health, writes Art Kellermann.

Arthur L. Kellermann

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Worth Its Weight in Gold?

In terms of healthcare use and chronic health conditions, obesity is comparable to aging 20 years, with the health of a 30 year old resembling that of a 50 year old, writes Roland Sturm.

Roland Sturm

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Medical Leadership in an Increasingly Complex World

It is time for physicians to think beyond making their institution, practice, or professional society better. The population needs, and deserves, such leadership, writes Robert H. Brook.

Robert H. Brook

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Finally, Presidential Support for the Individual Mandate

Among all the options in the leading Congressional health care reform bills, the individual mandate would do the most to increase insurance coverage, writes Elizabeth McGlynn.

Elizabeth A. McGlynn

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Stick to Facts to Find Health-Care Change That Works

The ferocity of the national debate over health care continues to build, and rhetoric has all but replaced reality. People on all sides of the issue appear to want anything but the facts, write Elizabeth McGlynn and Jeffrey Wasserman.

Elizabeth A. McGlynn, Jeffrey Wasserman

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Fix the Healthcare System (and Fight the Recession, Too)

A little-known proposition amid the highly charged health care debate is that properly controlling health care spending could generate economic growth equal to 1 percent of gross domestic product, write Dana Goldman and Neeraj Sood.

Dana P. Goldman, Neeraj Sood

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Limiting Treatment to Those Who Need It

The United States will produce more than $14 trillion worth of goods and services this year—truly an astonishing amount. But equally astonishing is that one out of every six of these dollars will go to health care. This is the source of much hand-wringing by policy makers. They worry that we cannot afford to spend so much, and that our national output will suffer as a result. They have it backwards.

Dana P. Goldman