As we approach the 10-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Democratic presidential candidates are sparring over what to do in its second decade. Should we build on the ACA? Or scrap it, relying instead on private markets or “Medicare for All”? As the debate heats up, it’s worth reflecting on what the ACA has accomplished so far — and what it hasn’t.
Misconceptions About Health Costs When You’re Older
That does not mean that all the care provided to dying patients — or to any patient — is valuable. Another study finds that high end-of-life spending in a region is closely related to the proportion of doctors in that region who use treatments not supported by evidence — in other words, waste.
“People at high risk of dying certainly require more health care,” said Jonathan Skinner, an author of the study and a professor of economics at Dartmouth. “But why should some regions be hospitalizing otherwise similar high-risk patients at much higher rates than other regions?”