The Idea Blog

Talk about bipartisanship. Talk about reaching across the aisle.

Billy Beane, Newt Gingrich and John Kerry author an editorial in the Times this morning, How to take American health care from worst to first. Here’s the moneyshot, for me at least:

“Starbucks pays more for health care than it does for coffee.”

The point, Beane, Gingrich and Kerry say, is to employ the equivalent of baseball’s sabermetrics in the health care system. More information will lead to better treatments and care.

“America’s health care system behaves like a hidebound, tradition-based ball club that chases after aging sluggers and plays by the old rules: we pay too much and get too little in return. To deliver better health care, we should learn from the successful teams that have adopted baseball’s new evidence-based methods. The best way to start improving quality and lowering costs is to study the stats.”