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The US is the only major developed country that doesn't have universal healthcare and they are still deep "in the red".

by A2017U1 8y ago

mgkimsal 8y ago
Exactly. Everyone's 'in the red'. What are people getting for that debt, and who benefits? Elite will always be 'elite', but most other countries people don't have to worry about considering bankruptcy if someone gets an illness requiring hospitalization. For some bizarre reason, we've enshrined "health care" as a "benefit" which is only morally accessible by "employed" people who have "good employers".
dragonwriter 8y ago
And we spend more per capita in public funds than any country providing public universal healthcare and, IIRC, about middle of the road in public healthcare spending as a share of GDP for countries providing universal healthcare, and then slightly more in private spending on top of the public spending. The US is literally paying, in public funds, for full universal healthcare (or more!), and paying more in private funds on top.
ekianjo 8y ago
At least the US is developing new drugs. About 99% of other countries produce none.
- DFHippie 8y ago
  Citation? Also, it's usual when comparing countries to restrict one's comparison to economic peers. If Lesotho or Vatican City aren't funding drug development, this doesn't say a lot about the relative merit of the U.S. system.
- dmitriid 8y ago
  - 30% of drugs in the US are funded by taxpayer money [1] - true, the US is producing about ~50% new drugs (sometimes more, sometimes less). Europe and Japan account for the most of the rest of the drugs [2]. The reason is simple: these are wealthy countries. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19264699 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19264699 [2] http://www.hbmpartners.com/media/docs/industry-reports/Analysis-of-FDA-Approvals-2018-and-Previous-Years.pdf http://www.hbmpartners.com/media/docs/industry-reports/Analy...

The US is the only major developed country that doesn't have universal healthcare and they are still deep "in the red".

Exactly. Everyone's 'in the red'. What are people getting for that debt, and who benefits? Elite will always be 'elite', but most other countries people don't have to worry about considering bankruptcy if someone gets an illness requiring hospitalization. For some bizarre reason, we've enshrined "health care" as a "benefit" which is only morally accessible by "employed" people who have "good employers".

dragonwriter 8y ago

And we spend more per capita in public funds than any country providing public universal healthcare and, IIRC, about middle of the road in public healthcare spending as a share of GDP for countries providing universal healthcare, and then slightly more in private spending on top of the public spending. The US is literally paying, in public funds, for full universal healthcare (or more!), and paying more in private funds on top.

ekianjo 8y ago

At least the US is developing new drugs. About 99% of other countries produce none.

DFHippie 8y ago
Citation? Also, it's usual when comparing countries to restrict one's comparison to economic peers. If Lesotho or Vatican City aren't funding drug development, this doesn't say a lot about the relative merit of the U.S. system.
dmitriid 8y ago
- 30% of drugs in the US are funded by taxpayer money [1] - true, the US is producing about ~50% new drugs (sometimes more, sometimes less). Europe and Japan account for the most of the rest of the drugs [2]. The reason is simple: these are wealthy countries. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19264699 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19264699 [2] http://www.hbmpartners.com/media/docs/industry-reports/Analysis-of-FDA-Approvals-2018-and-Previous-Years.pdf http://www.hbmpartners.com/media/docs/industry-reports/Analy...