The Cost of Health Care
Nicholas Kristof of the NY Times has written an interesting article about the scare tactics being used in the United States in an advertising campaign hoping to get people to oppose health care reform. (link)
The statistics that he references are interesting (link - Excel File).
In his article, Kristof compares the cost of providing health insurance in Canada to the United States. I took a look at the statics and found this:
2006 Total expendit. on health % gross domestic product:
United States: 15.3%
Germany: 10.6%
Canada: 10.0%
UK: 8.4%
Of the 30 countries listed, United States had the most expensive health care system.
Switzerland was in second place (which has a reputation for being expensive for many things) coming in at 11.3%
Imagine this, according to the CIA Fact book, (link) the Unites States has
- a per capita GDP of $48,000
- an estimated 2009 population of 307,212,123.
So, to move from having the most expensive to the second most expensive health care system would save something on the order of $ 590 billion. Wow.
It is infathomable to me that, comparatively speaking, Americans spend over half a trillion dollars more on health care than the Swiss. (Compared to Canadians by the same measure, Americans spend $ 782 billion more and over a trillion more than the British. A trillion dollars more. wow)
Even that is not the most shocking aspect about all this to me. Americans should be able to pay the most if they want, but then they should have the most comprehensive best quality service. But, that is not the case. In Canada, like in Germany, Britain (and I believe also Switzerland), everyone has access to health care.
By every objective measure that I have read for years, the quality of care in the United States is worse than the Canadians, Germans ... and even the British. I mention the British because they don't have a reputation for having a good health care system in Europe. A 2006 British study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that the British Health Care system costs half as much and delivers twice the benefits of the American system (link). I can't find the article right now, but a study made a splash a few years ago that found that even the poorest in Britain had better health care results that well off Americans.
Coming back to the money, imagine the potential to save a half a trillion dollars ... a trillion dollars. No wonder the beneficiaries of the current US system are trying to Swift Boat health care reform. They stand to lose a lot of money.
The statistics that he references are interesting (link - Excel File).
In his article, Kristof compares the cost of providing health insurance in Canada to the United States. I took a look at the statics and found this:
2006 Total expendit. on health % gross domestic product:
United States: 15.3%
Germany: 10.6%
Canada: 10.0%
UK: 8.4%
Of the 30 countries listed, United States had the most expensive health care system.
Switzerland was in second place (which has a reputation for being expensive for many things) coming in at 11.3%
Imagine this, according to the CIA Fact book, (link) the Unites States has
- a per capita GDP of $48,000
- an estimated 2009 population of 307,212,123.
So, to move from having the most expensive to the second most expensive health care system would save something on the order of $ 590 billion. Wow.
It is infathomable to me that, comparatively speaking, Americans spend over half a trillion dollars more on health care than the Swiss. (Compared to Canadians by the same measure, Americans spend $ 782 billion more and over a trillion more than the British. A trillion dollars more. wow)
Even that is not the most shocking aspect about all this to me. Americans should be able to pay the most if they want, but then they should have the most comprehensive best quality service. But, that is not the case. In Canada, like in Germany, Britain (and I believe also Switzerland), everyone has access to health care.
By every objective measure that I have read for years, the quality of care in the United States is worse than the Canadians, Germans ... and even the British. I mention the British because they don't have a reputation for having a good health care system in Europe. A 2006 British study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that the British Health Care system costs half as much and delivers twice the benefits of the American system (link). I can't find the article right now, but a study made a splash a few years ago that found that even the poorest in Britain had better health care results that well off Americans.
Coming back to the money, imagine the potential to save a half a trillion dollars ... a trillion dollars. No wonder the beneficiaries of the current US system are trying to Swift Boat health care reform. They stand to lose a lot of money.