House addresses paradox of U.S. health care and health
March 11, 2013
Photo by Martin Vloet (Michigan Photography)
ANN ARBOR – Out of control spending on health care and insurance is a major cause of the current fiscal crises in the United States. Although the country spends far more on health than any other nation, it now ranks below all comparably developed nations — and even some developing ones — on major indicators of population health, such as infant mortality and life expectancy.
This, says 2013 Henry Russel Lecturer James S. House, is “America’s paradoxical crisis of health care and health” — spending more and more on health, but getting less and less in terms of positive health outcomes. In his Henry Russel lecture Thursday, House will address two concerns: why Obamacare and other proposals to reform health care will do little to reduce health spending or improve health, and how what has been learned about the impact of social disparities on health can actually improve health and lower spending. (more…)