Wennberg's Day in the Sun

Jack Wennberg of Dartmouth, who has spent the past 30 years documenting the disparate levels of health care spending in the U.S. with no difference in outcomes, is all over the news today. In his laudatory article today about Shannon Brownlee's new book, "Overtreated," New York Times economics columnist David Leonhardt focuses on his work, which she uses extensively in the book. And so does this column by Jim Jaffe in the Baltimore Sun.

If you haven't thought much about the reasons why Medicare spends more than $9000 per senior citizen in Florida and just a third of that in New Mexico or Oregon, please read these articles, and then buy Shannon's book. You'll understand a lot better why health care costs in the U.S. consistently rise without better outcomes, and you'll think twice about the co-pay you have to pay the next time your physician orders that pricey procedure or test.