Exam 8: Health Reform: Controlling Costs

There is currently debate over whether health system mergers will reduce or increase health care costs.

Studies of geographic variation in health care showed that levels of health care may be more related to where they live rather than what care they prefer.

The Dartmouth Atlas, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services public data set, and other sources of publically-available data will help researchers and policy makers understand causes of geographic differences in health care spending.

Comparisons between the United States and peer countries demonstrates that U.S. per capita health care spending is more than double the amount of many of our peers.

Information about healthcare prices is readily available to the public health policy makers.

An initiative of the American Board of Internal Medicine that aims to improve healthcare quality by improving conversations between patients and physicians is called:

Almost one-third of Medicare spending can be attributed to costs of health care in the last two years of life.

In 2012, total health care spending in the United States was estimated at:

Since 1980, personal health care (out-of-pocket) spending has increased by 50%.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) projects per capita health care spending in 2023 to exceed:

In 2012, per capita health care spending in the U.S. was estimated at:

The idea of using "states as laboratories" has provided insight into the effectiveness of innovative health care initiatives.

Much of the controversy in the United States about our health care system relates to:

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) projects total health care spending in 2023 to exceed:

In 2010, in one research study, the chance that a patient with advanced cancer died in the hospital varied from 13% to 50% depending on which health care facility they received care.

Experts contend that as much as one-fifth of all healthcare spending may be due to redundant or unnecessary care.

Which factors also contribute to rises in health care expenditures?

Geographic healthcare differences observed in the Dartmouth Atlas, may be attributable to:

One important role of public health in health reform is to link population-based prevention to health care.

Insurance companies and health economists agree that government underfunding is the root of health care "cost shifting."