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Healthcare is a bubble that has been created by removing the actual costs from the providers and the consumers (until you are outside it and have to pay outside

Healthcare is a bubble that has been created by removing the actual costs from the providers and the consumers (until you are outside it and have to pay outside insurance). When healthcare is removed from being tied to employers this market will change dramatically. Healthcare, private IRA accounts, savings etc are all needed today separated from employers as people rapidly change jobs. Social Security isn't actually much of a problem (in fact the gov't uses it for funds all the time) it is Medicare and Medicaid.

Retric 17y ago
US healthcare cost is actually dominated by overhead. Add up malpractice insurance, medical billing, drug advertizing, insurance companies (more advertizing, administration, reviewing claims etc.), hospital overhead, and proft every step of the way. Overhead just dominates heal care spending which is why Canida has universal heathcare while spending less government money per person than the US.
- 0x44 17y ago
  Canada has also one-tenth the population of the United States. Which is confined mostly to a 150km corridor on the United States border.
  - Retric 17y ago
    I can't help but wonder what inpact you think that would have on heathcare spending per person. PS: Most americans live within 150 miles of the ocean.
    - 0x44 17y ago
      A lower population means less need be spent to provide health-care services per individual. That three-quarters of the Canadian population living within 150 kilometers (which is approximately 62% the distance of 150 miles) means that fewer resources need be expended to provide that level of service due to population density. If we assume that an identical proportion of the United States population lives within 150 miles of an ocean, that still leaves a population that is more than twice the total population of Canada in the interior. Reaching those people with the same standard of service will not cost as little as the Canadian system.
      - Retric 17y ago
        A lower population means less need be spent to provide health-care services per individual. Why? If the average cost of 300 million people was say 5k/year why would the average decrease when only caring for 30 million people? The US has ~10x the population density of Canada. United States — Population - Density: 31/km2 Canada — Population - Density: 3.2/km2 And the population density of a state does not really correlate with its healthcare costs so I think it's a pointless comparison. PS: You seem to be confusing total cost with average costs.

Retric 17y ago

US healthcare cost is actually dominated by overhead. Add up malpractice insurance, medical billing, drug advertizing, insurance companies (more advertizing, administration, reviewing claims etc.), hospital overhead, and proft every step of the way. Overhead just dominates heal care spending which is why Canida has universal heathcare while spending less government money per person than the US.

0x44 17y ago
Canada has also one-tenth the population of the United States. Which is confined mostly to a 150km corridor on the United States border.
- Retric 17y ago
  I can't help but wonder what inpact you think that would have on heathcare spending per person. PS: Most americans live within 150 miles of the ocean.
  - 0x44 17y ago
    A lower population means less need be spent to provide health-care services per individual. That three-quarters of the Canadian population living within 150 kilometers (which is approximately 62% the distance of 150 miles) means that fewer resources need be expended to provide that level of service due to population density. If we assume that an identical proportion of the United States population lives within 150 miles of an ocean, that still leaves a population that is more than twice the total population of Canada in the interior. Reaching those people with the same standard of service will not cost as little as the Canadian system.
    - Retric 17y ago
      A lower population means less need be spent to provide health-care services per individual. Why? If the average cost of 300 million people was say 5k/year why would the average decrease when only caring for 30 million people? The US has ~10x the population density of Canada. United States — Population - Density: 31/km2 Canada — Population - Density: 3.2/km2 And the population density of a state does not really correlate with its healthcare costs so I think it's a pointless comparison. PS: You seem to be confusing total cost with average costs.