It has become trite to observe that increases in health care costs have become unsustainable. How best for policy to address these increases, however, depends in part on the degree to which they represent increases in the real quantity of medical services as opposed to increased unit prices of existing services. And an even more fundamental question is the degree to which the increased spending actually has purchased improved health. Accounting for Health and Health Care addresses both these issues. The government agencies responsible for measuring unit prices for medical services have taken steps in recent years that have greatly improved the accuracy of those measures. Nonetheless, this book has several recommendations aimed at further improving the price indices. Table of ContentsFront MatterSummary1 Health Data and Health Policy2 Medical Care Accounts and Health Accounts: Structure and Data3 Allocating Medical Expenditures: A Treatment-of-Disease Organizing Framework4 Measuring Prices and Quantities of Medical Care: Improving Medical Care Price Indexes5 Defining and Measuring Population Health6 Linking Population Health to the Array of Health InputsBibliographyAppendix A: The Potential Role of Various Data Sources in a National Health AccountAppendix B: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and StaffCommittee on National Statistics