Increasing spending does not always result in better performance. Dr. W. Edwards Deming highlighted excessive health care costs as one of the 7 deadly diseases affecting economic performance in the United States in the 1980's and in the 21st Century it is still a huge problem. The links here provide more details on this issue.

1. U.S. Health Care Spending In An International Context - "Using the most recent data on health spending published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), we explore reasons why U.S. health spending towers over that of other countries with much older populations."

2. U.S. 'Not Getting What We Pay For' - "'We're not getting what we pay for,' says Denis Cortese, president and chief executive of the Mayo Clinic. "It's just that simple.' 'Our health-care system is fraught with waste,' says Gary Kaplan, chairman of Seattle's cutting-edge Virginia Mason Medical Center. As much as half of the $2.3 trillion spent today does nothing to improve health, he says. Not only is American health care inefficient and wasteful, says Kaiser Permanente chief execu

3. International Comparison of Health Care Systems Using Resource Profiles - World Health Organization study. "The approach is illustrated using a simple analysis of health care resource profiles for Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the USA. Comparisons based on measures of both real resour

4. In Search Of Value: An International Comparison Of Cost, Access, And Outcomes (pdf) - "The United States still spends more and fares worse on health indicators than most industrialized nations do." 1997.

5. The Ticking Bomb - "Long-term care threatens to bankrupt Medicaid and the states that pay for it. The best hope for a cure lies in cutting down on the need for institutional care."

6. Runaway health care costs - we're #1! - "Everybody knows that the US spends much more on health care than anyone else, without getting better results... What I didn't realize was just how clearly the evidence shows that the rising trend is steepest in the US. We have the biggest increase as well as the highest level. Were #1!"

7. International Health Care System Performance - Percentage of GDP spent on heath care by country: Australia 9.5%, Canada 9.8%, Germany 10.7%, Netherlands 9.2%, New Zealand 9.0%, UK 8.3%, USA 16.0%...

8. Bitter Pills - "A little over a decade ago, Medicaid spent $5 billion a year on outpatient drugs. The tab is now an overwhelming $30 billion a year, with help from the new Medicare reform law an iffy proposition at best."

9. USA Healthcare Costs Now 16% of GDP - "The 6.9 percent growth in 2005 marks the slowest rate of growth in health spending since 1999, when growth was 6.2 percent. Health care spending reached almost $2.0 trillion in 2005, or $6,697 per person, up from $6,322 per person in 2004."