Health Affairs, 28, no. 5 (2009): 1259 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.5.1259 © 2009 by Project HOPE	New Online   Senate Health Reform Bill   Rewarding Providers   Public Option Policy Brief   Health Reform & Abortion   Delivery System Reform

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Overview

PROLOGUE

Health Spending: An Overview

As in medicine, excessive U.S. health spending requires an appropriate "differential diagnosis" before attempting possible treatment. That’s the point of papers in the section that follows.

A litany of factors is to blame, the authors conclude. Growth in U.S. incomes has been a major driver. So have advances in technology (although, Sheila Smith and colleagues calculate, by a smaller share than earlier research suggests). The generosity of health insurance coverage, much of it tax-favored, adds fuel to the fire. All of these forces contribute to prices higher in the United States than anywhere else for the vast array of health . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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