Mick L. Diede and Richard Liliedahl

In the following viewpoint, Mick L. Diede and Richard Liliedahl argue that all the players in the health care system—providers, consumers, employers, drug and technology companies, insurers, and the government—are responsible for out-of-control spending. All, therefore, must make sacrifices to reduce health care costs before it is too late and government intervention is required, they maintain. Diede and Liliedahl contend that if costs are not controlled, consumers
will see a 55 percent increase in health care costs by the end of 2006. Mick L. Diede is a principal and actuary in the Atlanta office of Milliman USA, an actuarial consulting firm. Richard L. Liliedahl is a physician and principal in the firm’s Seattle office.

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