| That's a red herring, just take a look at some budget breakdowns: https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-bud... The largest portion of our budget is mandatory spending (~65%). Of our mandatory spending, the largest portion of that is spent on Social Services (Social security, medicare and health, etc) and yet we still have worse services than almost any other western country (IMO). You start looking at percentages and an even more sinister picture starts to take shape: https://visualeconomics.creditloan.com/how-countries-spend-t... > "Canada spends 6.3 percent of its total yearly budget on military spending. The United States spends 19.3 percent of its budget on military expenses. Mexico uses 3.3 percent of its budget for military spending." > "Canada spends 17.9 percent of its total yearly budget on health care. The United States spends 19.3 percent of its budget on health care expenses. Mexico uses 11.8 percent of its budget for health care." > "Norway spends 17.9 percent of its budget on health care spending, while its neighbor Sweden spends 13.8 percent of its budget on health care." > "In France, health care spending is 16.7 percent of Frances yearly budget." This article needs citation, but see this report that seems to at least tangentially support some of the trends voiced: http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Briefing-Note-NORWAY-... > "The United States is, by far, the country that spends the most on health as a share
of its economy (with 16.9% of its GDP allocated to health in 2012)" So at this point we can conclude that the US spends roughly the same share, or more, of it's GDP on Health care as other countries...even those "socialist" ones...yet we have a much worse standard/level/cost of care. Even at our "lower" tax rates our GDP is by far and away the largest: https://www.google.com/search?q=list+of+countries+by+GDP&oq=... But moreover, our PER CAPITA GDP is one of the highest in the world (higher than Norway and Sweden). So at the end of the day, America: * Spends more on healthcare in flat dollar terms than almost any other nation * Spends more on healthcare PER CAPITA than almost any other nation and yet we still have far worse levels of care. So this problem has nothing to do with economic or tax policy in the US. The question is: Where is the enormous sums of money we are ALREADY pouring into the system going? |
Our private health care system, however, has a cycle of perverse incentives -- employers, insurers, patients, and doctors -- that leads to spiraling costs with no increased benefits. The populations with the highest health risks (i.e. costs) are shoved onto the public rolls, in the form of Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA. Meanwhile, the lowest-risk populations are forced to pay into private, for-profit insurance schemes. Specialists have outsized bargaining power, which leads to grossly outsized salaries. Equipment and drug manufacturers can play hospitals and systems off of each other to bid up prices. And, of course, shareholders want a return on their investment.
This problem has everything to do with economic and tax policy in the US.