McArdle writes:
"So why did Walter Reed suck? And what guarantees that the VA is the system we'll follow, rather than the multiple other dysfunctional government systems everyone hates?"
Well, uh, two things: the voting public. And, uh, hopefully the Congress will be wise enough to leave room for a variety of approaches, within an overall framework.
YES, WE CAN.
Notice:
This year’s atlas focuses on Medicare spending for patients in the last two years of life at the top five teaching hospitals, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. The medical center at the University of California, Los Angeles, was the most extravagant, averaging some $93,000 per patient. Johns Hopkins, at $85,000, and Massachusetts General, at $78,000, came next. The Cleveland Clinic, at $55,000, and the Mayo Clinic, at $53,000, were far more cost-effective.
The reason for the disparities is not that one hospital charges a lot more for a given service than the others. Rather, the high-cost hospitals provide a lot more services for patients than the lower-cost hospitals: keeping patients in the hospital and in intensive care for longer periods, sending them to a slew of specialists and doing a lot more tests and procedures.
The reason for the disparities is not that one hospital charges a lot more for a given service than the others. Rather, the high-cost hospitals provide a lot more services for patients than the lower-cost hospitals: keeping patients in the hospital and in intensive care for longer periods, sending them to a slew of specialists and doing a lot more tests and procedures.
