US health care. II: The cost problem.

The Rising Cost of Health Care : Is it a Problem ?

When Gail Wilensky invited me to participate in this session, I accepted readily for three reasons. First, I was honored—who would not be?—to speak at the annual meetings of the Institute of Medicine? Second, it is hard for me to say “ no ” to Gail, whom I have known in various capacities since her first job out of graduate school. Third, I know and respect David Cutler. He and I are billed arg...

Controlling the costs of US health care.

With US health expenditure rising past 16% of the country's total economic output—a level almost 50% higher than in any other country—politicians and business executives are scrambling to avoid the bills for America's ragged patchwork of public and private health systems. Opinion polls indicate that health-care bills are now of greater concern to the US public than terrorism, illegal immigratio...

Challenges Facing the US Health Care System

Introduction The 22nd Princeton Conference examined a range of contemporary health care system changes and challenges. The conference began with a dinner talk from Professor Uwe Reinhardt about the hazards of " consumer directed " health plans and the lack of price and cost transparency. The first session on the impact of consolidation in the health care delivery system suggested robust consoli...

The state of US health-care reform.

Health care cost containment.