Balancing the goals of health care provision
By: Martin Feldstein.
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- no. 12279.; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research) -- working paper no. 12279.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 18
Subjects: Medical economics -- United States; Health care reform -- United States; Medical savings accounts -- United States
Description: "A desirable system for providing and financing health care would achieve three goals: (1) preventing the deprivation of care because of a patient's inability to pay; (2) avoiding wasteful spending; and (3) allowing care to reflect the different tastes of individual patients.  Although it is not possible to realize fully all three of these goals, they can condition and inform the design of a good system for financing health care.  This paper discusses the application of these goals in more detail and use them to consider a reform of the system of Health Savings Accounts that was enacted as part of the 2003 Medicare legislation and, separately, the challenge posed by the very expensive treatments for rare diseases that are becoming more common"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: "May 2006."

Includes bibliographical references.

Also available in PDF from the NBER world wide web site (www.nber.org).