How will health care reform effect doctors

bluedevilmike
Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:36:24 +0000

I don’t have the studies on hand, but I think afan is more or less correct. The changes are pretty small. I know that once folks hit ~age 60 their lifetime medical expenses are almost entirely the same no matter what their incoming health is. I think unhealthy people are more expensive at younger ages, though.

If memory serves, the studies in question are unequivocal that preventive care is not a cost-saver; the savings from healthier living are vastly offset by the expenses of that preventive care. (This is largely because preventive care on lifestyle issues is so hideously ineffective.)

Those studies do not address background economic factors like productivity. Then again, neither does health reform.