Managed Care - May 2008 - (Page 3) EDITOR’S MEMO Care Editor M A N A G E D Health Care Spending Explosion May Lead to a Drastic Solution By John Marcille ealth care spending averaged $7,026 per person in 2006, according to our cover story on page 20 by contributing editor John Carroll. By 2017, that number will shoot up to $13,101, accounting for 20 percent of GDP (this year, it’s estimated at 16.3 percent of GDP). Over the years, many approaches have been used to try to control spending, many of them becoming the subjects of stories for this publication. Without much trying, I can think of a dozen: disease management, pay for performance, formulary tiers, consumer-directed health care, managed Medicare, provider- quality ratings, wellness, cooperation among players, tax reform, employee education, wellness promotion, benefit-based copayments. And capitation. Still, the costs keep rising, thanks mostly to our inventiveness. A study by the Congressional Budget Office titled “Technological Change and the Growth of Health Care Spending” says that advances in technology account for about half of health care spending in the last several decades. Nobody wants to give up the technology, though. Marylou Buyse, MD, director of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans who is quoted in our update on RomneyCare on page 46, will often ask audiences: “If you could take health care insurance premium rates back to where they were in 2000, would you?” Unanimously: Yes. Would you go back to those rates even if it meant losing the technology gained since 2000? Unanimously: No. In fact, it’s a unanimous “no” even when the go-back-to year is 2005. “I don’t think that there’s an appetite in the public to give up what it considers to be even marginal, incremental gains in technology,” says Buyse. I don’t recall if we’ve ever done a cover story on rationing, but maybe it’s worth considering. MC JOHN MARCILLE Managing Editor FRANK DIAMOND Associate Editor H TONY BERBERABE Consulting Editor MICHAEL DALZELL Senior Contributing Editor MARGARETANN CROSS Contributing Editors LOLA BUTCHER JOHN CARROLL MAUREEN GLABMAN MARTIN SIPKOFF Design Director PHILIP DENLINGER Group Publisher TIMOTHY P. SEARCH, RPH Director of New Product Development TIMOTHY J. STEZZI Eastern Sales Manager SCOTT MACDONALD Senior Account Manager KENNETH D. WATKINS, III Director of Production Services WANETA PEART Circulation Manager CONTACT E-MAIL ADDRESSES: Editors: editors_mail@managedcaremag.com Circulation: managedcare@icnfull.com Advertising: advertising_info@managedcaremag.com Reprints: reprints_request@managedcaremag.com JACQUELYN OTT Clinical judgment must guide each clinician in weighing the benefits of treatment against the risk of toxicity. Dosages, indications, and methods of use for products referred to in this publication may reflect the professional literature or other clinical sources, or may reflect the clinical experience of the authors, and might not be the same as what is on the approved package insert. Please consult the complete prescribing information for any products mentioned in this publication. MediMedia USA Inc. assumes no liability for the information published herein. MANAGED CARE (ISSN 1062-3388) is published monthly by MediMedia USA, Inc. at 780 Township Line Road, Yardley, PA 19067. This is Volume 17, Issue 5. Phone: (267) 685-2788; fax (267) 685-2966. Send letters to the editor to Frank Diamond, MANAGED CARE, 780 Township Line Road, Yardley, PA 19067. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Copyright 2008 by MediMedia USA, Inc. All rights reserved under the United States, International, and Pan-American copyright conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photocopying, electronic, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of MediMedia USA Inc. The copyright law of the United States governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Subscriptions for individuals or institutions in the U.S.A. are $100 per year, $10 per single copy; elsewhere, $120 per year, $22 per single copy. Inquiries about paid subscriptions: Lisa Gardineer, telephone (267) 685-2789; e-mail: lgardineer@medimedia.com. Postmaster: Send address changes to MANAGED CARE, 2900 New Rodgers Road, Bristol, PA 19007. Periodicals postage paid at Morrisville, PA, and at additional mailing offices. Major articles are reviewed by appropriate members of the editorial advisory board and/or other qualified experts. Opinions are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the institutions that employ the authors, nor of the publisher, editor, or editorial advisory board of MANAGED CARE. MAY 2008 / MANAGED CARE 3
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