So Who's Really To Blame For Rising Health Care Costs?; Everyone, And No One; Consultant: Critics often choose the wrong target when divvying up blame.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)(Q & A)

Publication: Investor's Business Daily

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COPYRIGHT 2004 Investor's Business Daily, Inc.

Byline: GLORIA LAU

How to pay for rising health care costs has been a topic of debate for many decades.

In the 1970s and 1980s, pundits argued that if health care costs ever rose to 10% of the country's gross domestic product, the U.S. was doomed.

But health costs totaled 14.9% and 15.3% of GDP in 2002 and 2003, respectively.

Health spending nearly doubled to $1.6 trillion from 1992 to 2002, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Still, the U.S. has one of the world's strongest economies.

IBD recently discussed health-care costs and related issues with Dr. Peter Kongstvedt, vice president of the managed care practice at Capgemini and author...

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