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by dragonwriter 1135 days ago
> And that's despite the US government spending more per head than I think any other country on healthcare.

Far more per head — part of which is higher cost of labor and that healthcare is extraordinarily labor intensive. But, its also fairly high as a GDP share, for which excuses like that don’t work. The US just genuinely has a healthcare system that is ludicrously inefficient unless your goal is maximizing the wealth-based quality differential, in which case Mission Accomplished.
1 comments
robertlagrant 1135 days ago
I really think this cynical take on wealth needs to stop. This is far more likely explained by politics.

Or more precisely: efficiency is distorted by compassion. Which is then recovered by efficiency. Which is again modified by compassion. If your system is a bewildering mish-mash of cost increasing political interventions and cost reducing market innovations then it's never going to work. But lawmakers need something to do to stand out, and so do business people.

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dragonwriter 1135 days ago
> I really think this cynical take on wealth needs to stop. This is far more likely explained by politics.

The only mention of wealth was describing the effect. Yes, politics is a key part of how that effect is acheived. (Of course, advocacy by those with wealth is a key part of how the politics happens, and... well, the politics/wealth interactions here are basically a near-infinite chain. They aren’t competing explanations.)

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