Monday, February 22, 2010

Another healthcare Jim Nabors Moment

Studies find out that there's a trade off between how much is spent and survival. The more you spend, the more survival. It seems that some realities of economics still hold in the kafkaesqe world of healthcare.

"Surprise, surprise, surprise, surprise"

Incidentally, this doesn't mean that there is a direct correlation between spending LEVELS and outcomes, just that given our current system, the outcomes tend to be better, particularly for serious conditions, the more resources that are brought to bear.

Markets can allow us to drive up efficiency at all levels of quality, yielding lower costs. But so long as there is any market mechanism left, higher spending will tend to correlate with better outcomes.

By contrast, in areas where the market has totally been destroyed, there is no correlation. Utah spends around $5,500 per public school student. New York spends over $15,000 - test scores? About the same.

We need more market forces, not less. Everywhere.

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