U.S. health care costs began soaring in the early 1980s, but the reason for the uptick is up for debate.
A June 4, 2018 New York Times article provided several viewpoints on the issue, including that of John McDonough, professor of the practice of public health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. McDonough explained that President Jimmy Carter had obsessed over controlling public and private health care costs, whereas President Ronald Reagan did not, with the exception of Medicare.
“We need to see the medical sector as part of the broader gestalt of American society at the time,” McDonough said.
The article was written by Austin Frakt, an adjunct associate professor in Harvard Chan School’s Department of Health Policy and Management.
Read The New York Times article: Reagan, Deregulation and America’s Exceptional Rise in Health Care Costs