Practical Solutions for Healthcare Management and Policy (Collection)

3. Where Does All Our Money Go?

“I was walking down Fifth Avenue today and I found a wallet, and I was gonna keep it, rather than return it, but I thought: Well, if I lost a hundred and fifty dollars, how would I feel? And I realized I would want to be taught a lesson.”

—Emo Philips

Given that we spend more than twice what other developed countries spend on healthcare without achieving substantially better results, what is sucking up all that cash? There are only four possibilities:

1. We’re buying far more healthcare goods and services than our friends in other developed countries.
2. The healthcare goods and services that we’re buying cost more here than they do elsewhere.
3. Much of the money spent on “healthcare” is actually being spent on things ...