4 ms·
It's really convenient to cherry pick parts of "healthcare" or the "healthcare system". The thing is, it's 20-25% of our entire economy, so it's really hard to
by duffpkg 4y ago
It's really convenient to cherry pick parts of "healthcare" or the "healthcare system". The thing is, it's 20-25% of our entire economy, so it's really hard to make meaningful comparisons to other countries and their distinct economic systems, in my opinion. To compare you end up having to get into labor, education, taxation, political systems, etc. The most obvious thing is that the USA is a federation of states and with regard to healthcare the federal government has relatively little direct power (but a lot of money). I think the transparency regulations are an excellent small step, I think that there is a little bit of disconnect in regards to timeframe. It will take several more years to see how that plays out.
Regulation is one piece but ultimately dysfunction stems from huge differences between what different constituents want from a healthcare system and what they want it to be (and not be). People hold extremely different views about it. Depending on your circle and where you live you may not realize just how far apart your thinking is from people in other circles and places. Creating palatable compromises between those groups has proved almost impossible and so a lot of what we have in lieu of a compromise occurs by default and accident.