Question

Discuss student views regarding the tradeoff between the development of technology that results in costly innovations and the necessity of controlling the accelerated growth in costs by such methods as trimming insurance benefits and increasing the amount of cost-sharing by patients.

Answer 1

Tradeoff between - development of technology -> its cost shared by patients.

As far as students are concerned, they are usually emphatic about developing groundbreaking innovations to change the world. However, every innovation comes with a cost which needs to be borne by someone. It is important to do innovations so that the diseases can be fought effectively or in a much faster way. In a way, the innovation does reduce the cost of hospitalization over time provided it is a successful one.

But, point here to note is, we should be fast to realize if the innovation development is going in the correct path or not! The cost of innovation development should be kept as minimum as possible and the test development should happen as fast as possible. This will lead to early identification of true potential of an innovation.

On the other hand, the cost of innovation should be split between patients in such a way that it is not noticeable by the patients pockets. Its important to keep the cost low, as the patient would be struggling to meet the hospitalization cost.

So, Important points to note is -

1. Keep the innovation development fast and low cost.

2. Distribute the cost of innovation between patients in such a way that it is lighter on their pockets.