Health Care Quality & Value

Are we getting our money's worth?

As the national debate over ever-increasing health care costs rages on, this may be the most overlooked question of all: Are we getting our money's worth?

It's a difficult question to quantify. If a procedure costs $5 million but will save someone's life, is it "worth" it? What if that same $5 million will only extend a life for a short but identifiable time? How do we measure worth?

Maybe life and death questions are too ethereal for a "worth" discussion. Let's scale back the question: Are we getting what we pay for? What happens when we try to measure quality of care vs. cost and/or value? Be it for direct health care procedures or for health care insurance premiums, are Americans paying too much for what they receive in return? If so, why? And what good health care values do exist out there?

This section will attempt to examine the broad issue of Health Care Quality and Value.