Transforming Medicine

Glenn Reynolds examines a new book on how Silicon Valley can transform medicine and expresses some skepticism:

Kessler's expertise is in Silicon Valley electronics. But those products are usually paid for by consumers. Health care is paid for by intermediaries: government agencies and private insurance companies that are as big, and as bureaucratic, as government agencies. Will they be as swift to adopt improved medical technology as consumers are to pick up the latest Xbox or iPod? I'm not sure. In fact, I almost wonder if health-insurance companies might prefer to avoid diagnosis of tumors at the ten-cell stage, since they might then be on the hook for much more in the way of treatment expense than they would be if they didn't discover the tumor until just before it was fatal...

[I have to confess that my own experience with insurance companies has not inspired confidence in their altruism when it comes to medical insurance.]