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Fun fact that most Americans don't know: We _ALREADY_ spend more than enough on healthcare as a nation to fully fund healthcare for everybody. It's just that,
by slantedview 8y ago
Fun fact that most Americans don't know:
We _ALREADY_ spend more than enough on healthcare as a nation to fully fund healthcare for everybody. It's just that, unlike in other countries, our current system routes that spending to various for profit entities that don't involve actually providing care.
tldr; Lack of funding is not a legitimate argument against providing healthcare to Americans.
- austincheney 8y agoDoesn't that suggest health care in America is too expensive? Increasing funding to an inefficient system doesn't sound like a sustainable or extensible solution.
- Daishiman 8y agoThe inefficiency is in the private sector.
- conanbatt 8y agoMedicare is just as expensive, and the government is what makes drugs, doctors, malpractice and opening facilities so expensive. So no.
- Daishiman 8y agoOther governments don't have a problem making it cheaper.
- conanbatt 8y agoYou will also find other governments with public healthcare make a complete mess of itself. What makes health care expensive in the US is not public vs private, its the regulatory framework on everything. On drugs, on hospitals, on insurance, on doctors, on malpractice, etc.
- mac01021 8y ago> We _ALREADY_ spend more than enough on healthcare as a nation to fully fund healthcare for everybody. I would like to see a study or article demonstrating this. Do you have any links?
- dv_dt 8y agohttps://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/snapshots-health-care-spending-in-the-united-states-selected-oecd-countries/ https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/snapshots-healt... http://cepr.net/blogs/cepr-blog/life-expectancy-and-u-s-health-care-spending-an-international-comparison http://cepr.net/blogs/cepr-blog/life-expectancy-and-u-s-heal... https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/health-costs-how-the-us-compares-with-other-countries https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/health-costs-how-the-us-...
- aninhumer 8y agoThe point I usually see is that the US government healthcare spending per capita is comparable that of other developed countries with universal healthcare.
- jkingsbery 8y agoWhile true, in healthcare, a lot of the incentives that for-profit entities experience are put in place by the government. For example, a lot of the economics around pharma are driven by patent laws.
- 0xfeba 8y agoAnd who lobbied for those patent laws?
- SilasX 8y agoBut that also means that if you could fix the cost bloat, it would be much easier to provide universal coverage, and that trying to do the latter before addressing the former is bound to fail.
- slantedview 8y agoCosts are high, largely, because we have a fragmented mess of a system rather than a single payer.
- SilasX 8y agoHow do you know that that, rather than something else, accounts for the high costs? Edit: for example, Scott Alexander's point about US providers feeling they have to provide expensive treatment just to cover the possibility of a lawsuit: http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost-disease/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost-... Edit2: Also, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, and several others have typical cost savings but aren't single payer.
- slantedview 8y agoCosts are high for many reasons, but having for profit companies whose own overheads far exceed those of public options (such as Medicare) are the the most obvious contributor.
- conanbatt 8y agoIf private insurace cost as much as medicare you wouldnt still have rising cost of healthcare. Medicare has less admin cost but also they pay the least to providers. I would not adovcate for public health in the us before the government fixes medicare.