Posted by Michael Wonder on 07 Sep 2018
Is US medical care inefficient?
7 September 2018 - Is US medical care inefficient? Many health policy experts maintain it is, whereas others prefer a verdict available to juries in Scotland—“not proven.”
The correct answer is that no industry is either efficient or inefficient in abstract terms. Efficiency describes the relation between the input(s) and output(s) of a product (eg, an engine), an organ (eg, the heart), or an industry. Each industry has a unique set of inputs and outputs and set of technologic, economic, and sociopolitical constraints.
It may be possible, however, to compare the efficiency of US medical care with the efficiency of medical care in other countries if the inputs, outputs, and constraints are sufficiently similar; if they differ, it is possible to adjust for those differences. For example, per capita spending for medical care in the United States is approximately double the spending in the United Kingdom, but life expectancy at birth is almost 3 years lower in the United States than in the United Kingdom.
