Abstract
When discussing the causes of ever-rising costs of health care, policy makers sooner or later point to the failure of modern medicine. If modern medicine is so effective in increasing chances of survival, devoting additional resources to the health care sector must result in increased longevity. In turn, the increased number of aging survivors will exert an increased demand for medical services. Thus, modern medicine would result in a Sisyphus syndrome, reminiscent of the unfortunate Greek hero who never succeeded in pushing a rock to the top of the hill because it kept slipping off at the last moment. The more resources allocated to health, the greater the success of medicine in terms of longevity; the longer the lifespan, however, the higher the outlay on medical services. These two simultaneous relationships will be called the Sisyphus syndrome in health care henceforth.
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Zweifel, P., Ferrari, M. (1992). Is there a Sisyphus Syndrome in Health Care?. In: Zweifel, P., Frech, H.E. (eds) Health Economics Worldwide. Developments in Health Economics and Public Policy, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2392-1_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2392-1_15
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