Bending the curve on health spending

Chicago Tribune ^ | 7/20/09 | Denis Cortese and Jeffrey Korsmo

[Nachum]

Over the past several weeks, President Barack Obama and some congressional leaders have cited Mayo Clinic and other medical group practices as "a great value" for your health care dollar: high-quality care at costs that are significantly less than other parts of the country.

While we appreciate this recognition, we question whether our political leaders realize that many doctors and hospitals that offer this high-value care are reaching the point where we cannot afford to provide it to patients with government-sponsored insurance such as Medicare and Medicaid. We worry that the same could hold true for patients in a new government-run public insurance plan.

Despite the fact that we strive to give patients the right level of care -- everything they need, no more and no less -- we consistently suffer huge financial losses due to the government price-controlled Medicare payment system, which financially punishes providers who offer higher quality care at a lower cost.

[Nachum]

A big no on Obamacare from the executive director of the Mayo Clinic.

[Nachum]

The list, ping

[kenavi]

Great post restates a basic truth: price controls don’t work.