Rx

Health care costs, like the costs of other consumer goods, are determined by two factors; price and volume (price per unit x number of units = total cost). Addressing only one of these factors is like poking a soft balloon: push in on one spot and it bulges out at another. Both factors must be addressed simultaneously. This is not rocket science!

Let's stop pointing fingers at demanding patients, greedy lawyers, profligate juries, and bureaucratic/profit-driven insurers. There is plenty of blame to go around; but the lion's share of health care costs are generated, directly or indirectly, by physicians---for the most part, only physicians prescribe drugs, order diagnostic tests, determine revisit frequencies, admit patients to hospitals, and perform surgical procedures.

Any meaningful cost-containment effort must focus primarily on the activities of the practitioners. Yes, we need tort reform. Yes, we must streamline the entire health care delivery system to reduce the overall administrative burden and expense. But unless a cost-containment Plan seriously addresses practitioner behavior, it will merely mean more tinkering at the margins.