A medical intervention lying on a steeper portion of the aggregate cost-benefit curve indicates a major benefit for a relatively modest cost. An example of such an intervention would be:

Question

Options

• Achildhood immunizations.
• Blung transplants.
• Ccare for an anencephalic infant.
• Dpurchasing MRI scanners to supplement CT scanners.

• A
  71% (17)
• B
  17% (4)
• C
  8% (2)
• D
  4% (1)

Explanation

Childhood immunizations represent one of medicine's greatest bargains: a small per-dose cost yields enormous population-wide benefit by preventing serious, potentially fatal diseases like polio, measles, and tetanus - classic "steep curve" territory where marginal cost is low but marginal benefit is very high.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• B (lung transplants): Extraordinarily expensive surgery with complex ongoing costs (immunosuppression, monitoring), yet benefits only a narrow patient population - high cost, limited aggregate benefit.
• C (anencephalic infant care): Anencephaly is uniformly fatal; intensive intervention carries enormous cost for essentially no meaningful benefit, placing it on the nearly flat (wasteful) portion of the curve.
• D (MRI supplementing CT): Adding MRI where CT already exists yields only marginal diagnostic improvement at very high capital and operational cost - low incremental benefit for high incremental cost.

Memory tip: Remember the "steep curve = sweet spot" rule - immunizations are the textbook example because they are cheap, scalable, and prevent expensive downstream illness. If an intervention is cheap per person AND prevents major disease at the population level, it's on the steep part. If it's expensive with limited or no realistic benefit, it's on the flat part.

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