Anupam B. Jena and Tomas J. Philipson argue that further use of cost-effectiveness analysis to curb health care spending may do more harm than good.

The use of cost-effectiveness criteria, while lowering the cost of health care in the short term, threatens to harm future patients by stifling vital medical innovations.

Almost all pharmaceuticals are purchased by third parties (insurance or government) through the use of reimbursements. Yet, as University of Chicago health economists Anupam B. Jena and Tomas J. Philipson demonstrate in their new book, Innovation and Technology Adoption in Health Care Markets (AEI Press, August 2008), reimbursement levels based...

In a new AEI Press book, Anupam B. Jena and Tomas J. Philipson argue that health care cost-effectiveness criteria may constrain future innovation.

I was initially assigned the working title, "Pursuing Equality in Health Care for the Elderly Is Futile." I prefer to think of that particular dead end of health policy as one of listening to the wrong music for too long. Hence, this article revises the title song of the movie, Urban Cowboy, to "Looking for better health [rather than either "love" or "love of equality"] in all the wrong places.

The Obama administration envisions accountable care organizations (ACOs) as the drivers of health care innovation, but such innovation has historically come from entrepreneurs in the private sector.

Demographic, economic, and political forces have placed unprecedented demands on Medicare that cannot be met without major program reform. Policies are needed to change the fundamental incentives that drive provider and patient behavior in Medicare--and ultimately the entire health sector.