Higher US expenditures on cancer patients do not result in improved mortality. : denialism blog

Higher US expenditures on cancer patients do not result in improved mortality. : denialism blog

                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blogger: Hoofnagle has a MD and PhD in physiology from the University of Virginia, and is now a general surgery resident. His interest in denialism concerns the use of denialist tactics to confuse public understanding of scientific knowledge.

                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Higher US expenditures on cancer patients do not result in improved mortality.

" But you'd never know that reading AEI's highly dubious contribution to the literature in this week's Health Affairs (lay Reuters article here). Consistent with their free-market solves everything and can do no wrong (cover ears and yell "nananananananana") attitude towards the broken US healthcare system, they have managed to contaminate the literature with a paper that suggests our higher expenditures on cancer are generating significant returns in patient survival. Except that it doesn't show this, and to her great credit, Reuter's Sharon Begley nails it:........

"Experts shown an advance copy of the paper by Reuters argued that the tricky statistics of cancer outcomes tripped up the authors.
"This study is pure folly," said biostatistician Dr. Don Berry of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. "It's completely misguided and it's dangerous. Not only are the authors' analyses flawed but their conclusions are also wrong."

".... It's been a topic of debate among medical professions and discussed extensively by other medical bloggers like Ora.....(Blogger's Note: see prior postings)