WHY ISN’T HEALTH CARE INFLATION MEASURED?

WHY ISN’T HEALTH CARE INFLATION MEASURED? Using a figure for increased health care costs without considering the increased life spans they are purchasing is obviously wrong. But the number— although irrelevant —is exact. (” 2.1 percentage points faster than overall economic growth per person.”) I think health care inflation isn’t measured because it is too hard to do and because it is too hard to agree on the judgments required. There is never going to an exact number. How much of the over five year increase in average length of life in thirty years is due to health care expenditures? How much to cleaner air? How much to more exercise? How much to better drugs? How much to more knowledgeable doctors? And how should we value an extra year of life? And how should we value a reconstructed knee? You can see how difficult it would be to get agreement on these important questions—and so they are ignored.