Martin Zelder | PubMed Health

PubMed2005

Public and private pharmaceutical spending as determinants of health outcomes in Canada.

Canadian per capita drug expenditures increased markedly in recent years and have become center stage in the debate on health care cost containment. To inform public policy, these costs must be compared with the benefits provided by these drugs. This paper measures the statistical relationship between drug spending in Canadian provinces and overall health outcomes. The analysis relies on more homogenous data and includes a more complete set of controls for confounding factors than previous studies. Results show a strong statistical relationship between drug spending and health outcomes, especially for infant mortality and life expectancy at 65. This relationship is almost always stronger for private drug spending than for public drug spending. The analysis further indicates that substantially better health outcomes are observed in provinces where higher drug spending occurs. Simulations show that if all provinces increased per capita drug spending to the levels observed in the two provinces with the highest spending level, an average of 584 fewer infant deaths per year and over 6 months of increased life expectancy at birth would result.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

Making health spending work.

Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) are usually promoted as a demand-management tool that gives consumers incentives to economize on medical expenses. "Making Health Spending Work" takes the concept one step further and shows how MSAs can be used to design a publicly funded system that incorporates market dynamics. MSAs can bring efficiency-enhancing incentives to the supply side, creating consumer choice and empowerment with a public system that meets Medicare's key principles. Over the last few months, Canada's political leaders have begun to break away from the reform-stalling tactics of special interest groups - which profit mightily from the the current system - and to examine sensible reforms that could benefit all Canadians. By breaking free of old dogmas, Canada can turn myth into reality: we can have the best medicare system in the world, one that expands choice and creates efficiency-enhancing dynamics.

Alberta↗