Wolfe B L
Soc Sci Med. 1986;22(10):993-9. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(86)90199-1.
Until now, cross-national studies have not demonstrated a positive relationship between health care expenditures and improved health status, as measured by such indicators as age-adjusted mortality rates. It has therefore been argued that cutting expenditures will not have a negative effect upon health status. Using health and life-style data from the OECD for Germany, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, France, Sweden and the United States, this study finds that when one holds constant those changes in life style that have an impact upon health (e.g. smoking, drinking, traffic accidents, dangers on the job) and adjusts for inflation and population size, health care expenditures do bear a positive relationship to health status. This suggests that reductions in health care expenditures may well have some cost in terms of overall health.
到目前为止，跨国研究尚未证明医疗保健支出与改善健康状况之间存在正相关关系，而健康状况是以年龄调整死亡率等指标来衡量的。因此，有人认为削减支出不会对健康状况产生负面影响。本研究使用经合组织（OECD）提供的德国、英国、荷兰、法国、瑞典和美国的健康与生活方式数据，发现当将那些对健康有影响的生活方式变化（如吸烟、饮酒、交通事故、工作中的危险）保持不变，并对通货膨胀和人口规模进行调整后，医疗保健支出确实与健康状况呈正相关关系。这表明，削减医疗保健支出很可能在整体健康方面会有一定代价。
