The Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society : official organ of the Louisiana State Medical Society
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While the "health care crisis" is a major topic of discussion, it is apparent that to properly evaluate and manage the "ailment," we must first establish a proper diagnosis. To that end, we have provided actual statistics for the Medicaid program in Louisiana. As is the case in many states today, Medicaid has become a major component of the overall governmental health cost figures, involving over one-half of actual government expenditures, and consuming $140 billion of the total $800 billion national figure. ⋯ In other nations, however, many of these categories are classified as social, educational, or welfare programs. If health care spending decisions are to be made on the basis of statistical comparisons to other countries, then it is critical that we develop a standardized international classification system, and similarly effective methods for the collection of data. In lieu of this approach, at the very least, we should be factoring in these tremendous differences in classification of costs into the comparisons.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)