The Effect of Government Control Over Health Care Expenditures on Health Care System Efficiency in the U.S. and Other OECD Countries, 1972-2009

This paper focuses on the question: Does public or private control of health care lead to greater healthcare system efficiency? The data analysis demonstrates a curvilinear relationship between government control over health care and health care system inefficiency and that, as a result, a hybrid approach to health care which takes advantage of a mixture of both government monopsy and private market forces will be the most efficient. In addition, analysis of the data indicates that health risk factors such as obesity play a much larger role in health care costs than assumed by most models