Rising medical costs are a worldwide problem, but nowhere are
they higher than in the U.S. Although Americans with good health
insurance coverage may get the best medical treatment in the
world, the health of the average American, as measured by life
expectancy and infant mortality, is below the average of other
major industrial countries. Inefficiency, fraud and the expense
of malpractice suits are often blamed for high U.S. costs, but
the major reason is overinvestment in technology and personnel.
America leads the world in expensive diagnostic and therapeutic
procedures, such as organ transplants, coronary artery bypass
surgery and magnetic resonance imaging. Orange County,
California, for example, has more MRI machines than all of
Canada. Federal policy since World War II has emphasized medical
technology and the widespread building of hospitals, even in
rural areas. Other industrial countries, in contrast, followed
the more cost-effective alternative of building up regional
centers. The U.S. has long ove