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American medical spending may be worth it, study shows

Healthcare Strategist Trend Watch, September 1, 2006

Despite rapidly increasing costs, medical spending has significantly extended the lives of Americans in recent decades, according to the authors of a joint study by Harvard University in Cambridge, MA and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The researchers measured value by the cost of care that extends the average person's life by one year, according to an August 31 article in The Los Angeles Times.

The study calculated that Americans of all ages spent an average of $19,900 on medical care for each extra year of life expectancy gained over the last four decades of the 20th century. Representatives from Harvard University told the Times that $19,900 averaged over a period of 40 years is a reasonable value for healthcare consumers.

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