4 ms·
An interesting read, in which I learned that Americans spend far fewer days in the hospital than others, but our costs per day are ~2x average, and we receive 2
by carbocation 16y ago
An interesting read, in which I learned that Americans spend far fewer days in the hospital than others, but our costs per day are ~2x average, and we receive 25% more procedures than others. I wonder how much of this is waste due to either profit motives or fear, versus how much is due pioneering new procedures that will gain widespread usage a few years down the road elsewhere. (That's intended to be a sincere question.)
One sentence struck me as odd, confusing me as to what the author was trying to demonstrate:
> "In fact, the increased numbers of percutaneous coronary interventions, knee replacements, coronary bypasses, and cardiac catheterizations alone accounts for an extra $21 billion in additional inpatient costs."
Percutaneous coronary interventions are life-saving procedures. It's a bit odd to see them lumped in with diagnostic caths and knee replacements. I would like to see at least X PCIs, where X is the number of myocardial infarctions that occur each year.
- illumen 16y agoIt's quite complex to compare countries. Especially when other social programs can reduce hospital visits dramatically. For example: reducing alcohol related violence, lower gun shot /knife wounds, housing people reducing homeless hospital visits, lower obesity reducing many problems, sexual disease education reducing STI/STD, easy contraception availability, better sexual education, free medical care meaning people go earlier to get help reducing the cost down the line... the list just goes on and on. Countries with better social services can often save money on medical care down the line. So just comparing medical costs is silly. You need to take into account other social, and education programs too.
- noodle 16y agoperhaps he's trying to lump it into some sort of category that is accounted for by the 'american way of life'. coronary disease is at least somewhat affected by living a healthier lifestyle.