Editorial Controversies and Opportunities in Economic Analysis of Health

Health, and specifically the cost of health care, is of greatconcern to public policy makers and to the public. Medical care is something we all want, in large part because medicine has reduced death and disability dramatically over the last several decades. However, there is a significant problem of rising cost, today consuming approximately $2.4 trillion annually in the United States and increasing at a rate of approximately 6 % per year. Health care consumes approx-imately 17 % of gross domestic product in the United States in 2009 and is expected to reach 20 % within several years. Without substantial changes in our health care system, heath care costs will continue to increase and restrict other eco-nomic activities that are vying for these scarce resources. Thus, there has been great interest in health economics research to address the increasing problem of the high cost of health care