2 commentsThe cost of healthcare
I found this map from CNN showing health care costs, percentage of government-run care, etc. The most striking thing to me was the health care spending per capita.
A few selected countries (ordered by increasing life expectancy):
- USA: $6714
- UK: $2939
- France: $4056
- Canada: $2754
- Sweden: $3143
Just examining a couple of variables leaves quite a bit out, of course, but for me these numbers make arguments about abuse in public options seem a lot less convincing. Even if we have “the best health care in the world”, as some claim, I haven’t seen much convincing evidence that it’s /that/ much better.
I wondered if this might have something to do with exorbitant medical malpractice claims, but it turns out that’s not the case. According to the Congressional Budget Office:
Malpractice costs amounted to an estimated $24 billion in 2002, but that figure represents less than 2 percent of overall health care spending.
(from CBO.gov)
2 comments
From various readings, it sounds like the overuse of care is our biggest problem. Doctors get paid per treatment, so they have an incentive to give you as many treatments as possible, regardless of whether they’re medically necessary. On the flip side, having for-profit health insurance companies ensures that some people will be denied the care that they really do need, so it’s sort of the worst of both worlds.
I think fixing our problem right will require both:
1) Requiring insurance companies to be non-profit. There’s simply no room in a moral health care system for people to be making a profit by denying care.
2) Getting doctors to a salary system, where their income is not directly tied to the number of procedures they perform. A doctor’s medical choices should be purely based on the patient’s need, not on perceived financial gain.
Yeah, I think these proposals make sense. If we could make a system in which companies and doctors have the greatest incentive to create the healthiest society, that’s certainly ideal. We’re quite far from that now.
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