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Why Our Health Care System Is a Mess

By John Johnson,  Newser Staff

Posted May 28, 2009 7:35 PM CDT
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(Newser) – For a clear example of our warped health care system, look no further than McAllen, Texas. The border town is second only to Miami in how much it spends on health care per person—$15,000 per Medicare enrollee, twice the national average. The problem? Atul Gawande of the New Yorker finds a town entrenched in the culture of too much medicine—patients get more tests, more hospital care, more surgery, more everything. And while those patients don't necessarily get healthier, hospitals and doctors certainly get richer.

Gawande sees it as an inevitable result of the way the current health care system works, and a cautionary tale amid talk of reform. Unless things change, expect more McAllens. "In an odd way, this news is reassuring," he writes. "Universal coverage won’t be feasible unless we can control costs. Policymakers have worried that doing so would require rationing, which the public would never go along with. So the idea that there’s plenty of fat in the system is proving deeply attractive."

Sometimes, too much medicine is a bad thing.
Sometimes, too much medicine is a bad thing.   (Shutter Stock)
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Come on. We all know these arguments are bullshit. There is overutilization here, pure and simple. - A general surgeon in McAllen, rejecting a slew of excuses about high costs there

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 11 comments
SBS
May 30, 2009 2:19 AM CDT
It may be time to begin considering the use of more automation in the health care system. By that I mean the use of people who are specifically trained in diagnosing problems, not necessarily doctors and then let the doctors do the treatments. I know this will not go over well with older people who have been raised believing they have to see a doctor each time but it may be something that will be accepted by younger people. Younger people are used to technology and may be more accepting of this.
Newser001
May 29, 2009 12:54 PM CDT
whisper / not wispper - oy
Newser001
May 29, 2009 12:53 PM CDT
The very first sentence seems to sum it up... ' The Senate Finance Committee's hearings on health reform earlier this month did not include testimony from any advocate for single-payer insurance. ' WTF? Was it the AMA, HMOs, so called NFP hospitals, etc manage to block even a single voice / wispper...? Our government screwing up, as usual. I'll be writing my reps. Thanks kokuaguy for the ref...
Health • Money • US

 
medicine • health care • health care costs • health care reform • McAllen, Texas

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