Many health systems in the European Union are tempted to control the budget impacts of health policies by implementing financial caps and linking pharmaceutical expenditure to gross domestic product. Proponents of budget-capping policies consider them to be promising in terms of cost-containment, affordability, and predictability and believe these approaches are needed to prevent impinging on other social policy goals. Critics of these policies suggest that, while they may appear to contribute to financial control in the short term, it is doubtful that this type of macroeconomic course of action contributes to efficiency, the diffusion of innovation, or the provision of appropriate incentives for competition. An important question is whether a budget-capping strategy encourages or undermines the achievement of better health outcomes, in both the short term and the long term, in a way that is consistent with overall societal goals. Should the financial vehicles of the Economic Ministries be the principal driver of the economics of health policy? Or should the driving and the road map for better health of the population be in the hands of the highest government authority with the accompanying support of health economics? How can budget-controlling approaches be designed to best foster continued innovation?