Quote: When it comes to health insurance reform, California State University, Northridge economist Glen Whitman emphasizes, "We have to make sure we don't just fix the parts that are broken. We also have to make sure we don't actually break the parts that are working very well. And it turns out that one of the areas that America is really great at is innovation."
Reason.tv's Ted Balaker sat down with Whitman to discuss his new Cato Institute policy analysis, coauthored with Raymond Raad, "Bending the Productivity Curve: Why America Leads the World in Medical Innovation."
Whether it's Nobel laureates in medical fields or the most important recent medical innovations, Whitman and Raad find that the U.S. has contributed more than any other nation, and in some cases, more than all nations combined. Whitman cites some key factors that account for America's innovative ways, and warns that if America adopts a more centrally planned health system we may not only innovate less but we might not know what innovations we're missing.
Interview shot by Alex Manning and Hawk Jensen; it was edited by Manning. Approximately 10 minutes
__________________
But the backdrops peel and the sets give way and the cast get eaten by the play, there's a murderer at the matinee, there are dead men in the aisles
And the patrons and the actors too are uncertain if the show is through and with sidelong looks await their cue, but the frozen mask just smiles
Posted: 23 Dec 2009 17:37
Registered User Currently Offline
Posts: 193
Join Date: Nov 2009
As an interesting point to the "innovation" question, it should be noted that Insurance Companies do very little in the way of innovating.
That is drug companies, medical device manufacturers, and other researchers. The U.S. tends to lead in innovation not because of something in our medical system, but because the U.S. has a very large, very educated, and very diverse population. Because our genuis reserves are so strong many company's invest in research here, regardless of the company's national origin (with the exception of biotech which is a new field, most drug companies for example are multinationals not working with or beholden to any individual country).
It is unlikely, that say limiting the profits of insurance companies will hurt inovation. Infact quite the opposite. As their profits will be determined as a percentage of cost, it is likely that they may seek to cover more new procedures so that they can inturn keep more profit.
At the end of the day, the engine of innovation in this country is the corporate medical research industry of which insurance company's have little to no effect on. Likewise even if the U.S. wound up with a single payer plan, the innovators are just as likely to keep innovating but would likely pull more profit from other countries that the U.S. currently subsidizes through our free market system.
