{"id":124,"date":"2009-01-12T10:18:41","date_gmt":"2009-01-12T17:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=124"},"modified":"2009-01-12T10:30:16","modified_gmt":"2009-01-12T17:30:16","slug":"the-cost-of-us-healthcare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=124","title":{"rendered":"The cost of US Healthcare:"},"content":{"rendered":"\t

It doesn’t get any plainer that this:
\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\t

There will be a lot of political talk coming up about “changes” in healthcare…to deal with the cost, with the un-insured…about the mandate the election provided for change. I talked about the investment the healthcare industry has in maintaining the status quo here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t

No matter what they say do not be fooled that some incremental change will make a difference<\/em>.\u00a0 US Healthcare costs are so far out of whack<\/em> that only structural change will make a difference.<\/p>\n\t

Also, understand what the chart is saying and think about what the end result of healthcare is<\/strong> supposed to be:\u00a0 A longer life<\/strong>.\u00a0 You can argue that quality is also important; however, quantity is a good surrogate, as all healthcare improvements should conceivably lengthen life some bit.\u00a0 Obviously we fail.<\/p>\n\t

The chart is saying:\u00a0 We pay twice as much as everyone else, and are pretty much LAST in lifespan among developed first-world countries.\u00a0 We pay the most and get the least<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\t

The opponents of a change in healthcare will make two main points:<\/p>\n\t

1)\u00a0 The quality of care<\/strong> will be worse under nationalized healthcare:\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 Then how do all the countries ahead of us live longer and spend less?\u00a0 They will say you will have less choice and wait in long lines to get care.\u00a0 Maybe or maybe not, but that obviously isn’t affecting the life span in those countries ahead of us.\u00a0 They may (or may not) stand in a line….but it isn’t shortening their life any.<\/p>\n\t

2)\u00a0 Nationalized care (or basically any change proposed) will cost too much<\/strong>:\u00a0 Hard to argue with the chart….we are already <\/strong>paying too much.\u00a0 I will make a comment on that, and it relates to income inequality:\u00a0 Although I have no data to back this up, I bet the rich in the United States DO have the best healthcare in the world.\u00a0 The issue is that so few can afford that kind of care.<\/p>\n\t

What do I propose as far as a change (its easy to poke holes in the current system)?\u00a0 Don’t know.\u00a0 There is so much mis-information out there about WHY our current system costs so much that I’ve had trouble sorting that out.\u00a0 I know alot is administation, but not all of it.\u00a0 I know some of it is too few doctors\/health care professionals.\u00a0 I know some of it is litigation and using emergency room as last resort care.<\/p>\n\t

I do know though that it can be done, because all the countries ahead of us are generally similar to the US in macro-economic conditions.\u00a0 There is nothing unique about the US that is driving costs so high.\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It doesn’t get any plainer that this: There will be a lot of political talk coming up about “changes” in healthcare…to deal with the cost, with the un-insured…about the mandate the election provided for change. I talked about the investment the healthcare industry has in maintaining the status quo here. No matter what they say […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0},"categories":[8,1],"tags":[51],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3IMYj-20","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":37,"url":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=37","url_meta":{"origin":124,"position":0},"title":"US Healthcare:","author":"kellio","date":"January 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The cost of a long life. 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