Issues of cost and quality: barriers to an informed debate

Debates over health reform in the United States are hampered by a poorly informed public and misunderstandings about the concepts of quality, cost containment and their relationship to each other. This paper explores the nature and persistence of barriers to an informed public discussion of reform proposals. Those barriers are: (1) multiple definitions of quality, cost and cost containment, (2) the impact of the media on those definitions, (3) a false assumption that cost containment automatically results in diminished quality, and (4) the perceived impact of managed care and for-profit health firms on that assumption. We suggest a framework for building the understanding and knowledge base necessary to a reform of the nation's health care system.