Don't Break What's Working in Health Care: Economist Glen Whitman on Medical Innovation

When it comes to health insurance reform, California State University, Northridge economist Glen Whitman emphasizes, "We have to make sure we don't just fix the parts that are broken. We also have to make sure we don't actually break the parts that are working very well. And it turns out that one of the areas that America is really great at is innovation."

Reason.tv's Ted Balaker sat down with Whitman to discuss his new Cato Institute policy analysis, coauthored with Raymond Raad, "Bending the Productivity Curve: Why America Leads the World in Medical Innovation."

Whether it's Nobel laureates in medical fields or the most important recent medical innovations, Whitman and Raad find that the U.S. has contributed more than any other nation, and in some cases, more than all nations combined. Whitman cites some key factors that account for America's innovative ways, and warns that if America adopts a more centrally planned health system we may not only innovate less but we might not know what innovations we're missing.

Interview shot by Alex Manning and Hawk Jensen; it was edited by Manning. Approximately 10 minutes.

Go to http://reason.tv for downloadable versions.

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• glen whitman
• health care
• innovations
• libertarian
• america
• obama
• politics
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• reason magazine
• reason foundation
• ted balaker
• alex manning
• hawk jensen

[felpaluche]

I have high hopes for medical care in the future to be much more better than today.

[dolphinsattack]

I trust the free markets more than govt, Obama bombs Libya, uses Predator Drones at free will, I trust my insurance company more than Liberals who are not educated in the medical field. Liberals politicize healthcare when in fact Healthcare is a medical financial element and shouldn't be a political element pushed by Socialists who have a Hollywood Bill Maher Michael Moore fantasy of Paris France.

[beancube2010]

If the innovation fields work only in North America then we have a big management problem about resource development that technology is not distributed for business controls instead of distributed them more freely for health purposes for the world population. There are some old mindset caused this that people must pay more attention studying about.

He looks more like an industrial $ale$man that Sold toxic nuclear waste for weapons and money is everything that kind of economists. Very evil!

[meeples]

Haha, I went and looked at the paper and found the list of the 30 greatest innovations. One of them was Viagra, which doctors rated 28/30 over 29 which was Non-sedating Antihistamines and 30 which was Bone Marrow Transplant.

Boners are more important than those? Really? The way this study chose the 30 greatest innovations was retarded.

[MakersMark34]

@killerbandit,

You miss umrmecheman's point. Deregulation works in every market. The free people fight for what they want by buying only the highest quality goods and services per dollar of their income. The firms fight for what they want through free, fair, and unhindered competition: Whoever most pleases the customer the customer achieves the greatest market share.

All commodities start as luxuries, starting with bread and water, recently, computers, now healthcare.

BeConstitutionalPeople

[soleilangela]

are there parts that are actually working?

[Tedtally]

I'm all for medical innovation, but if tens of millions of people don't have access to that innovation, what use is it?

[nliu1986]

This interview was immensely underwhelming. It seemed like nothing more than a sycophantic brag-fest of how the US healthcare system isn't so bad. Yes, Mr Whitman initally says that the US system is not so desirable, but I didn't notice any substantive specifics on how we can make it better. A visit to the hospital should not cost as much as a new car.

[umrmecheman]

hired 17 employees as their company grew. he didn't start this business to screw people out of their money and just get rich. they pride themselves on delivering excellent service for a good price.

you need to rethink your baseline assumptions.

[umrmecheman]

corporations are soulless. a corporation is just a structure that allows a person or group of people to form a group for business purposes. but those corps are made up of people. i have 2 uncles and an aunt who have formed a company called home warranty inc. they did this because it is an area they have expertise in an making profits will allow them to do things like pay for a house, send kids to school, oh the horrors of their greed.

and you want to know a fun byproduct of all this. they've