Health Affairs

Health Affairs, 28, no. 5 (2009): 1285-1293 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.5.1285 © 2009 by Project HOPE	New Online   Reinhardt: Post-Summit   Report from the Summit   President's Reform Proposal   Rising Medicare Costs   Spending for Immigrants   $2.5 Trillion U.S. Health Tab   Child Obesity Briefing

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Overview

Public Attitudes Toward Health Care Spending Aren’t The Problem; Prices Are

Jonathan Oberlander and Joseph White

Does the United States spend more on medical care than other nations because Americans desire more medical care than other populations do and dislike constraints on health spending? We argue that the public is not the main barrier to successful cost control in the United States. The preoccupation with excessive demand as the cause of and rationing as the cure for U.S. health spending overlooks an alternative explanation for that spending: higher prices. There is evidence that price regulation can constrain spending and that the public will support that cost-control approach.

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