U.S. Wastes More Than Half of Health Spending

The Wall Street Journal today highlights a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers putting the value of the waste sloshing around in the health care system at a whopping $1.2 trillion a year, or 50% of the total spending.. However the "waste" may be more in the eyes of the auditors than real. For example waste includes such items as missed appointments, medicines not taken, Dr's recommendations not followed, diseases associated with adverse behaviors. It also believes there is much administrative waste in the way medical services are delivered. There are many deficiencies in the system , much of it due to illogical legislation and federal laws, or services delivered that are usually unecessary but are used to prevent lawsuits. The headlines in The Journal make good copy. Probably 50% of the "waste" could be averted, Even $600 billion dollars a year are well worth saving. This will not happen without a major overhaul of our broken system.