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Why guess, when you could get some data? In the UK, the per-capita spend on healthcare is $3480, of which $2919 is paid by the government (and so raised via ta

Why guess, when you could get some data? In the UK, the per-capita spend on healthcare is $3480, of which $2919 is paid by the government (and so raised via taxes) and $561 is private (via health insurance or direct payment). In the US, the per-capita spend is $8362, of which $4437 is paid by the government (via taxes) and $3925 is private (via health insurance). This is only a cursory glance, but it does look a bit like nationalized healthcare results in lower private spending and lower government spending (the extra spend in the US presumably goes into the pockets of doctors, pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies). Data sourced from the World Health Organization, via The Guardian[0] [0] http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jun/30/healthcare-spending-world-country http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jun/30/healthc...

sp332 12y ago
I wasn't really defending the US system in general, but I don't think nationalizing healthcare in the USA will lower taxes. The inefficiencies aren't inherent in privatized health care, they are a result of a corrupt system. The corruption isn't going to change if we give the government more control over the system.
- robotresearcher 12y ago
  Why not? Cutting the insurance companies completely out of the picture changes almost everything.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > The inefficiencies aren't inherent in privatized health care No, but lots of them are inherent in having a nest of overlapping private and public health insurers (regular, workers compensation, and others) each of whom spend considerable resources making sure that they don't pay for something a different insurer (public or private) could instead be compelled to pay for. > they are a result of a corrupt system. Believing that the excess costs in the US system are a result of "corruption" rather than the structural inefficiencies of the architecture of the system requires believing that Americans are unusually, among citizens of developed countries, corrupt. This is not utterly implausible, but it is a claim that requires some support.
tormeh 12y ago
At that point it seems like what America needs is to hit the reset button and throw everything away. Because it's insane that the US spends more tax money on healthcare than the UK.
touristtam 12y ago
Just wait for the Tory Government to push the "greater private sector involvement in the NHS" argument to its limit (ie privatization): http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/28/cameron-warned-nhs-in-danger-of-collapse http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/28/cameron-warne...

sp332 12y ago

I wasn't really defending the US system in general, but I don't think nationalizing healthcare in the USA will lower taxes. The inefficiencies aren't inherent in privatized health care, they are a result of a corrupt system. The corruption isn't going to change if we give the government more control over the system.

robotresearcher 12y ago
Why not? Cutting the insurance companies completely out of the picture changes almost everything.
dragonwriter 12y ago
> The inefficiencies aren't inherent in privatized health care No, but lots of them are inherent in having a nest of overlapping private and public health insurers (regular, workers compensation, and others) each of whom spend considerable resources making sure that they don't pay for something a different insurer (public or private) could instead be compelled to pay for. > they are a result of a corrupt system. Believing that the excess costs in the US system are a result of "corruption" rather than the structural inefficiencies of the architecture of the system requires believing that Americans are unusually, among citizens of developed countries, corrupt. This is not utterly implausible, but it is a claim that requires some support.

tormeh 12y ago

At that point it seems like what America needs is to hit the reset button and throw everything away. Because it's insane that the US spends more tax money on healthcare than the UK.

touristtam 12y ago

Just wait for the Tory Government to push the "greater private sector involvement in the NHS" argument to its limit (ie privatization): http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/28/cameron-warned-nhs-in-danger-of-collapse http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/28/cameron-warne...