Where does cost fit into health care decisions?

This subject is being discussed by a major medical group which recently proposed the position to doctors that they should consider cost-effectiveness when treating patients.

“The cost of health care in the United States is twice that of any other industrialized countries and we are not providing care to as many people as they do in other places, and we don’t even have as good outcomes,” said Dr. Virginia Hood, president of the group. “So given that, we really have to look at ways of doing things better.”