Why does medical care cost so much?

Abstract

Abstract The major element in medical-care costs is manpower. The production of more doctors and allied personnel is often promoted as an effective way of reducing unit costs and improving distribution. Expansion of manpower, however, under the present delivery and financing systems would not lower price, improve distribution or have any measurable impact on the health of the population. Analysis of the present health system, furthermore, shows that it has relatively little to do with health and that it is tangential to many health problems. More necessary than mere increases in manpower are broader concepts of health services, clearly enunciated health goals, more consumer involvement in policy formulation, greater exploitation of the process of organization, more sophisticated management, the striking down of various artificial impediments to change and more imaginative methods of payment.