The United States spends over 16% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care, and this is predicted to rise to 20% or more over the next 10 years. Although Australia spends only 11% of its GDP on health, our costs are also rising. I do not propose to analyse here all the factors contributing to this rise, but will focus on differences between US and Australian medicine that could help us understand this situation better.
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- Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Austin Hospital, Melbourne, VIC. (The author is currently on sabbatical leave at Columbia University Medical Center in New York.)