Commenting on “Do We Really Have to Cut Back on Healthcare Spending?”

This is a great overview of the facts and clearly demonstrates the urgent need for evidence-based medicine.  No matter what form health care reform takes in the future, the issue of cost has to be addressed.  However, I believe that a significant key to solving the puzzle of spiraling cost is an active and educated consumer of health care. 

To begin the process of developing such a consumer, there must be financial “skin in the game.”  How often does a consumer of non-health care goods purchase a car, home or a computer without asking the price of the item?   All would demand a Rolls Royce if someone else paid the vast majority of the bill.  Admittedly, when it comes to health care, the information needed for efficient purchasing is not sufficiently available and is more complex than that necessary for purchasing simple consumer goods.  However, this is not an excuse for lack of consumer participation and decision-making in the economic process of health care.

Have you noticed that most discussions of health care reform are supply-side and payer driven?   This is yet another indication of the passive role that consumers take in our health care system……..like children with parents who know better who make the major decisions for us.

-Barbara E. Rodin, Ph.D