Opinion: More healthcare is better healthcare—Medical myth or reality?

The U.S. spends nearly $3 trillion a year on health care, significantly more than any other nation. In fact, America's annual health care spending is greater than the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of every other country except China, Germany and Japan. Yet our measurable health outcomes – from infant mortality to life expectancy – aren't any better than nations spending much less. I've written about this paradox before, pointing to a few factors that drive up health care costs. They include the perverse financial incentives of health care's fee-for-service payment model, the unjustifiably higher costs of devices and drugs in the U.S. and our systematic investment in specialists over primary care physicians.