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According to Paul Ginsburg, the President of the Center for Studying Health System Change, the rising costs of health care can be attributed to advancements in technology, declinations in the population's health status due in part to obesity, and an overall lack of productivity in the delivery of care.

To combat this growth in spending, Ginsburg suggests that policy makers should attempt to pass provider payment reform, engage in programs to stop obesity, and better focus the use of new medical technology on those who will benefit the most.

"Technology, there is a consensus in the literature, probably accounts for a third or two-thirds of the growth in health care spending. It affects spending really in two ways...by substitutions of new approaches for existing approaches and by expansion meaning approaches to treat things that couldn't be treated before," said Ginsburg.

"A great deal of this technology is highly welcomed by all, it makes a great contribution to people's health care, it is high value, but some technology does not provide sufficient value...some of it is applied too broadly. " However, there are questions over whether policy makers should target technologies, since stopping their progress may pose a risk to the overall health in the United States.

"In this new century of the life sciences we're developing so much fundamental knowledge of disease and the roots of disease and the roots of the processes in the human body and the likelihood of much more stunning medical progress in this century is very, very high," explained Senior Executive Vice President of the Advanced Medical Technology Association David Nexon, Ph.D. "It's a tremendous policy imperative to make sure we don't inhibit those breathtaking opportunities for progress."

Health Policy and Strategy Associates President Robert Laszewski doubts broadening the general population's insurance coverage or ending obesity will do anything to lower health care spending. Lazewski noted that insuring the 45 million uninsured Americans will lead to a spending increase similar to when medicare was introduced in the 60's and that any costs saved by ending obesity will be negated by people living longer.

"If we can improve productivity 20 percent over the next ten years, this would abruptly close the gap between spending growth and GDP over that period...the only way we can bring our costs under control is to improve productivity," said Lazewski.