The polls say yes, but do they really understand what’s involved? The “more medicine is better medicine” mentality would have to be the first to go:
The polls show that many Americans like what they have; if there is excess in our system, they embrace it. They find comfort in the idea that, when they consider their medical options, they have a long list of choices, including the newest and the most expensive drugs, devices, tests and procedures. Most subscribe to the American creed that newer is almost always better. And, as the latest ABC News/ Kaiser Family Foundation/ USA Today poll shows, only 30 percent of those surveyed see unnecessary treatments as a problem in our system, while just 28 percent say that the “increased use of expensive new drugs, treatments and medical technology” is driving rising costs, “even though,” the pollsters note, “this is the factor most often named by experts.”
