Health Economics Research - Knowledge@Wharton

Health Economics Research - Knowledge@Wharton: "Presidential Candidates Push Health Care Reform, but Who Will Pay? As medical costs escalate and the number of Americans without health insurance continues to rise, the 2008 presidential candidates have responded by putting health care near the top of their agendas.

Indeed, many candidates have already laid out detailed programs to address the nation's health care problems. As a result, meaningful change in the system seems likely to occur once a new president takes office.

As Mark V. Pauly, Wharton professor of health care systems, notes: 'I'm optimistic this time that we'll get something.... There is actually a chance of doing more good than harm, and I wouldn't have said that in some other years."

Helge: Health Economics and Innovation. The "health care industry" is conservative. Adopting new innovations takes time. Aggressive cost saving strategies and tactics are possible. We've a debate about the health care costs in Finland as well. Finnish nurses are treating to go on strike unless their salaries are increased. Cities and municipalities are facing growing cost expansions. Mediracer is a diagnostic point of care innovation including cost and resources saving telemedicine dimensions. The adoption of mediracing could save costs of diagnosing and treating carpal tunnel syndrome. That's a small part of a big picture but the time it takes for an innovation to move from R&D to market and effective use is an issue I would like to talk about.