Excessive health care spending that harms vulnerable numbers

Financial corruption arises when exorbitant or unnecessary health care spending depletes the resources needed for the well-being of the population. This is the subject of a JAMA Health Forum Insight co-authored with researchers in the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Traveling Health Institute and Harvard Medical School. The Insight was published in the issue of March 8, 2021 JAMA Health Forum.

The authors define the rationale for “financial pollution” as a metaphor for demonstrating the speed with which health care misuse is addressed and for leading innovative policy direction. Like environmental pollution, human-generated financial pollution, polluting connected systems, remains largely invisible to many, and doing disproportionate damage to vulnerable populations. The authors highlight approaches that have improved environmental pollution as ways to reduce financial pollution.

Unlike the term “financial poisoning,” which is defined as direct harm that occurs when patients have to pay out of pocket for large sections of health care services, the -authorities argue that financial corruption is more widespread and brutal, draining households’ indirect resources through rising health insurance prices and taxes. This leaves homes with fewer facilities for education, housing and raising children, and ultimately causes significant harm to the population.

“The term ‘health care waste disposal’ does not adequately capture the harm that such consumption causes in numbers,” said author Frank Wharam, Associate Professor of Population Medicine at Harvard Traveler Health Care Institute and Harvard Medical School. “‘Waste’ combines images of byproducts that are sent to treatment centers, cleaned and recycled. In contrast, pollution is waste that hurts people. To highlight the risks of wasteful health care spending, and to deal with it swiftly, we should call it what it is – financial corruption. “

“The current public health, economic, and equality crises require a new mindset for action,” said author Anita Wagner, Associate Professor of Population Medicine at Harvard’s Traveler Healthcare Institute and Harvard Medical School. “We believe that by citing the problem of financial pollution – some $ 900 billion in consumption each year – and learning from policy approaches to combating environmental pollution can help to reducing financial pollution and increasing population well-being. “