Kidney dialysis affords a good example of many of the problems I’ve highlighted in this blog: the U.S. wasting money on less effective treatment (for more details consult Ethical Musings: Healthcare).
The cost of home dialysis is less than the cost of treatment in a dialysis center and produces better results, perhaps reducing the death rate from kidney failure by half. (For full details, cf. Rita Rubin, “Dialysis treatment in USA: High costs, high death rates,” USA Today, August 24, 2009.)
Most consumers rely on healthcare professionals to identify the best treatment modality. Healthcare professionals, often pushed for time, generally recommend what insurance or Medicare covers. Scientific data, in turn, rarely determines the scope of healthcare coverage.
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