How do you explain the fact that healthcare expenditures in the US are twice as high as in the rest of the Western world, and life expectancy is comparable?
Because while demand for healthcare is inelastic, more healthcare can actually be a bad thing. For example, old people (who are big customers) are often best if they are told to just go home, and look after themselves. Cutting up old people can be a waste of time (since they are unlikely to live a lot longer), and can actually reduce their life expectancy (since they don't always survive surgery).
Also, the money the US spends on healthcare could be better spent educating the people who will otherwise drop out of high school, which drastically reduces their life expectancy (since they can't read so good, have trouble getting jobs which don't involve selling meth, and otherwise have terrible lives).
Someone's gotta sell the meth, work at McDonald's, mow the lawns (well, not mine... I mow it myself), make the firecrackers, clean the toilets, etc.
It's all about how we allocate this labor, I guess. Paying everyone the same salary leads to underperformance, so we encourage competition. I'm sure there's a better way, but it probably won't be a total reversal, only a modification, of what we have.
> Someone's gotta sell the meth, work at McDonald's, mow the lawns (well, not mine... I mow it myself), make the firecrackers, clean the toilets, etc.
and someone does indeed do those things, but imagine if there isn't anyone to do it because everyone is so well educated that it's "beyond" them. Those jobs will "get done" initially at a higher price, but then because there's profit to be made, a smart individual will inevitably invent a machimne to the job, and thus, the total output of society increases (sure there's a turbulent period of transition, but that's acceptable in the grand scheme of things).
McDonald's is increasing automation. Seriously, go in and order a smoothie; once the order is finalized, the smoothie machine will dispense the ingredients, run the mixer, and put the result into a cup (that it also dispensed). Some of the locations have automated soda fountains for the drive through as well. I have heard stories about call centers for drive through ordering too (although I haven't seen that in practice)
I heard the employment rate for young black high-school dropouts is something like 5%. I doubt the employment rate for white high-school dropouts is fantastic, either. So it seems we don't need that many people to flip burgers, mow lawns, make firecrackers, clean toilets, etc. Or that a high-school dropout isn't even qualified to do those jobs.
Also, the money the US spends on healthcare could be better spent educating the people who will otherwise drop out of high school, which drastically reduces their life expectancy (since they can't read so good, have trouble getting jobs which don't involve selling meth, and otherwise have terrible lives).