Yes…and no. Some have argued that Americans don’t really used more services. Instead, it is the disproportionately high cost of services. Renowned health economist Uwe Reinhardt famously stated: It’s the prices, stupid, a conclusion reiterated in 2019. Still, the evidence on over use, overtreatment and even over screening is compelling. Have you had services you really didn’t need? How would you know? Have you or someone you know been a victim of health care harm? It is likely. One in 31 hospital patients, for example, contracts an infection just from being in the hospital. Until recently, hospitals actually received additional financial reimbursement for harm they caused in the first place, just one example of the many perverse financial incentives in U.S. health care.
The nations with the best health outcomes direct fewer financial resources toward specialty medical care and more to efforts that address the standard of living. A great deal of evidence supports this approach. Income and education level as well as other “social determinants of health” are now well recognized as the best predictors of health status. As stated by Harvard researcher Melody Goodman: Your zip code is a better predictor of your health than your genetic code. Even miniscule differences in income, by zip code, are associated with dramatic differences in health status. Yet, excessive spending in health care erodes the financial support for education and job creation, the very elements most strongly correlated with health status.
References
It’s the prices, stupid and It’s still the prices, stupid: Why the US spends so much on health care, and a tribute the Uwe Reinhardt. Anderson, G., Hussey, P., Petrosyan, V. (2019) 38(1) https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05144
One in 31 hospital patients contracts an infection just from being in the hospital. Goozner M. (2019, January 7). Are COM’s quality incentive programs working? Modern Healthcare, 49(1), p. 24.