mcfadden and part d

a good article by dan mcfadden in the journal about Part D. it talks about the program, but my favorite part is the discussion about the healthcare industry in america.

interesting info:

In terms of health delivered per dollar of cost, our system is grotesquely inefficient. We spend $6,102 per person on health care each year, nearly 17% of GDP. Our neighbor Canada's single-payer system costs $3,165 per person per year, about half our expenditure, or 10% of their GDP. The Canadian costs and health outcomes are typical of developed countries, where government managed and financed systems predominate. The extra cost of our system is not buying us better health. The probability of dying between ages 15 and 60, a good indicator of failure of a health-care system to prevent and treat disease, is 8.1% for females in the U.S.; in Canada, the same probability is 5.7%.

very interesting consideration:

About a third of all medical costs are incurred in the last year of life, and are at best marginally effective. The incentives in the system do not force hard choices.