Wasteful Spending in Health Care: A US and UK international comparison

In health care, greater attention in the United States and the United Kingdom is being given to maximize the benefit of dollars and pounds spent. With the persistent increase in health care prices and demographic changes, evidence-based high-value care has become essential. This paper examines the n...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Max Holdsworth
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre de Recherche et d'Etudes en Civilisation Britannique 2019-08-01
Series:Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/4381
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Summary:In health care, greater attention in the United States and the United Kingdom is being given to maximize the benefit of dollars and pounds spent. With the persistent increase in health care prices and demographic changes, evidence-based high-value care has become essential. This paper examines the nature of wasteful uses of health dollars. The United States wastes money in its unnecessarily high use of testing and procedures and through its volatile prices that affect how health services are managed. Administrative costs in the US are also high, due to its relatively unregulated system. This comparative analysis shows that the UK, on the other hand, spends less per-capita on health with verifiably better outcomes; nonetheless, the UK too has sources of low-value spending. More analysis of this problem could help to produce sound public policy, which would reduce waste and release resources for the improvement of services.
ISSN:0248-9015
2429-4373