The cost disease : why computers get cheaper and health care doesn't
Record details
- ISBN: 9780300179286 (hbk.)
- ISBN: 0300179286 (hbk.)
- ISBN: 9780300198157 (pbk.)
- ISBN: 0300198159 (pbk.)
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Physical Description:
print
xxi, 249 p. : ill. ; 22 cm. - Publisher: New Haven, Conn. ; London : Yale University Press, c2012.
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-235) and index. |
Formatted Contents Note: | Part I: The survivable cost disease. Why health-care costs keep rising ; What causes the cost disease, and will it persist? ; The future has arrived ; Yes, we can afford it ; Dark sides of the disease : terrorism and environmental destruction ; Common misunderstandings of the cost disease : cost versus quality and financial versus "physical" output measures ; The cost disease and global health -- Part 2: Technical aspects of the cost disease. Hybrid industries and the cost disease ; Productivity growth, employment allocation, and the special case of business services -- Part 3: Opportunities for cutting health-care costs. Business services in health care ; Yes, we can cut health-care costs even if we cannot reduce their growth rate -- Conclusions : Where are we headed and what should we do? |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Prices United States Medical care United States Costs College costs United States Health Care Costs United States Cost of Illness United States |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Kirtland Community College.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kirtland Community College Library | HB 235 .U6 B38 2012 | 30775305464787 | General Collection | Available | - |
CHOICE_Magazine Review
The Cost Disease : Why Computers Get Cheaper and Health Care Doesn't
CHOICE
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
About 50 years ago, economist Baumol coined the term "cost disease" (others subsequently labeled it eponymously the "Baumol effect"): the tendency of costs in certain sectors, mainly personal services, to rise disproportionately because productivity in these "handicraft" areas is stagnant. Baumol (New York Univ.) now applies his theory and its implications, for all practical purposes, to health care. (Education and other services are mentioned, but health care gets more than the lion's share of the treatment.) The good news, according to Baumol, is that progressive sectors churn enough purchasing power for people to be able to afford rising health care bills; the bad news is that he sees these other sectors, with sizable productivity gains and lower costs, as also making weaponry and environmental "bads" increasingly affordable, and thus posing significant threats to human welfare. This is a valuable, thought-provoking, and well-written volume. Yet one also has the feeling of something being not quite right. Readers and public policy officials would be better served had Baumol applied the "cost disease" to lawyers' and therapists' prices; not limited it to a sector with significant public financing; and eased up on the not-so-subtle ideological undertones. Ample notes and references. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. A. R. Sanderson University of Chicago