TEXT OF STORY

MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: Deciding how to spend public health care dollars isn’t easy. A new study out today says health care professionals might hand out the dollars differently than you and I would. Janet Babin reports from the Marketplace Innovations Desk at North Carolina Public Radio.

JANET BABIN: The survey asked doctors and nurses to rank how they’d spend public money for health care.

Like the general public, those surveyed said they’d spend the most on vaccinating kids and the least on cancer treatment for smokers.

Glenn Salkeld at the University of Sydney talked to hundreds of professionals from six countries.

He says for the most part, their views were in line with those of the general population. But Salkeld says the two groups are split on how much money to spend on life-saving interventions.

GLENN SALKELD: The public like the idea of a heart transplant. It’s high-tech, its life-saving. The health professionals think, well yep, that’s important, but it’s very expensive and perhaps the money can be better spent elsewhere.

The pros also said more money should be spent on preventing disease. The study was published in the Public Library of Science Medicine.

I’m Janet Babin for Marketplace.