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> healthcare becomes the most expensive or second most expensive thing on the government budget. Has that happened in other advanced economies? Genuinely curio

> healthcare becomes the most expensive or second most expensive thing on the government budget. Has that happened in other advanced economies? Genuinely curious - I don't know what share of the UK national budget the NHS consumes, for instance. > It will be the government's business whether you're out of shape or overweight or indulge in too much sugar etc, because the government is paying the medical bills. First off, this happens to a small extent already with private insurance companies. Companies do "wellness fairs" for employees, insurance companies give people discounts for going to the gym etc. It could increase in future right? Second, I think most people want to be healthy, regardless of who's paying the bills, because your quality of life is so much better. I could see many people not changing their oil on time and driving terribly if they were guaranteed free car repairs forever. But healthcare isn't like that.

Mirioron 8y ago
>Has that happened in other advanced economies? Genuinely curious - I don't know what share of the UK national budget the NHS consumes, for instance. Yes, this is the case in the UK.[1] Public sector spending for 2019 is around £842 billion for the UK. £256 billion is spent on "social protection" and €166 billion on public healthcare. That's 18-19% of the total budget being spent on healthcare. Keep in mind though that healthcare in the US would be much more expensive. US healthcare workers earn more compared to GDP per capita than UK healthcare workers.[2] I think it would be rather likely that healthcare such as this would rival social security in terms of cost if it applied to everyone. [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2018-documents/budget-2018 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2018-docum... - under section 1.7 [2] https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/how-much-do-doctors-in-other-countries-make/ https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/how-much-do-do... >First off, this happens to a small extent already with private insurance companies. Companies do "wellness fairs" for employees, insurance companies give people discounts for going to the gym etc. It could increase in future right? I think it's likely that it will increase, but now the government has more of angle to argue why they should have the right to control your behavior. >Second, I think most people want to be healthy, regardless of who's paying the bills, because your quality of life is so much better. I could see many people not changing their oil on time and driving terribly if they were guaranteed free car repairs forever. But healthcare isn't like that. Most people don't want to be told that they're not allowed to eat X, because a bureaucrat living a thousand miles away says it's bad for you, especially when the evidence isn't stellar. It also allows for corporations to lobby harder on laws around people's habits. If the government finds that using "a screen" for more than 8 hours per day is bad for you, you probably wouldn't like it if the government would now argue that they should be able to monitor your usage of screentime and potentially penalize you in some way, right?

Mirioron 8y ago

>Has that happened in other advanced economies? Genuinely curious - I don't know what share of the UK national budget the NHS consumes, for instance. Yes, this is the case in the UK.[1] Public sector spending for 2019 is around £842 billion for the UK. £256 billion is spent on "social protection" and €166 billion on public healthcare. That's 18-19% of the total budget being spent on healthcare. Keep in mind though that healthcare in the US would be much more expensive. US healthcare workers earn more compared to GDP per capita than UK healthcare workers.[2] I think it would be rather likely that healthcare such as this would rival social security in terms of cost if it applied to everyone. [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2018-documents/budget-2018 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2018-docum... - under section 1.7 [2] https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/how-much-do-doctors-in-other-countries-make/ https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/how-much-do-do... >First off, this happens to a small extent already with private insurance companies. Companies do "wellness fairs" for employees, insurance companies give people discounts for going to the gym etc. It could increase in future right? I think it's likely that it will increase, but now the government has more of angle to argue why they should have the right to control your behavior. >Second, I think most people want to be healthy, regardless of who's paying the bills, because your quality of life is so much better. I could see many people not changing their oil on time and driving terribly if they were guaranteed free car repairs forever. But healthcare isn't like that. Most people don't want to be told that they're not allowed to eat X, because a bureaucrat living a thousand miles away says it's bad for you, especially when the evidence isn't stellar. It also allows for corporations to lobby harder on laws around people's habits. If the government finds that using "a screen" for more than 8 hours per day is bad for you, you probably wouldn't like it if the government would now argue that they should be able to monitor your usage of screentime and potentially penalize you in some way, right?