How Do We Move From Cost-Increasing To Cost-Reducing Technology?

In computing, Moore's Law says costs fall by half every two years as capability improves, yet in healthcare, technology sends bills soaring.

In 25 years, healthcare could account for a third of the economy and consume 30 percent of the federal budget, according to a series of stories introduced in Technology Review.

"Essentially, it's how do we move from cost-increasing to cost-reducing technology? That is the challenge of the 21st century," Jonathan Gruber, an economist at MIT who leads a heathcare group at the National Bureau of Economic Research, says in the article.

The problem, basically, is lack of incentives to use cost-effective medicine, the article states. Even the new federal research institute established to find the most effective treatments isn't focused on cost, it says.