What Is The US Health Spending Problem?
What Is The US Health Spending Problem?
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DOI：
10.1377/hlthaff.2017.1626
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发表时间：
2018-03-01
期刊：
影响因子：
9.7
通讯作者：
Cutler, David M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Cutler, David M.
医疗保健支出增加对美国经济有害吗？医疗保健支出占国内生产总值的总份额不是问题，只要购买的服务价值高于其成本。然而，高昂且不断上升的成本暴露了两个经常被忽视的问题。首先，支出太高，因为许多美元被浪费了。据估计，不必要的医疗支出花费了典型的美国家庭每年数千美元。其次，高昂的医疗费用加上大部分人口收入停滞，各级政府无力筹集税收，导致健康和经济差距扩大：私人保险覆盖的人数减少，公共卫生计划的护理配给，以及其他社会计划缺乏资金。这些分配问题，加上大量浪费，意味着解决医疗支出问题的努力需要成为我们的最高优先事项。
Is increased spending on medical care harmful to the US economy? The overall share of the gross domestic product spent on medical care is not a problem, provided that the services bought are worth more than their cost. However, high and rising costs expose two often-overlooked problems. First, spending is too high because many dollars are wasted. Estimates suggest that unnecessary medical spending costs the typical American family thousands of dollars each year. Second, high medical costs combined with stagnant incomes for a large share of the population and the inability of governments at all levels to raise tax dollars leads to increased health and economic disparities: fewer people covered by private insurance, the rationing of care in public health programs, and the lack of funds for other social programs. These distribution issues, coupled with the large waste, imply that efforts to address medical spending need to be among our highest priorities.