What's really wrong with healthcare is that you're being ripped off
What's really wrong with healthcare is that you're being ripped off
What's really wrong with healthcare in the United States?
Here's a simple answer from an Australian and it has nothing to do with "Obamacare" or "death panels" or "socialized medicine". Here's what's really wrong:
--You're being ripped off by everybody in the healthcare industry from Big Pharma to doctors.
--You're being treated like a cash cow, like an ATM.
--You're the fall guys in all this.
And you know something else? Until you stop listening to the political spin from the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the Tea Party and any other "party" and start looking the facts in the face you're going to continue to be the fall guys. And you'll deserve it.
You don't believe me?
Let's compares the United States and Australia. Now I would never hold up Australia's healthcare system as a paragon of efficiency. For one I think it's unsustainably expensive. We really do spend too much on healthcare. Costs are spiraling out of control.
Why do I say this?
Well for every $100 Americans spend on healthcare Australians spend $52. Our per capita healthcare costs are slightly more than half yours which is much too much. In Denmark and Finland, for example, they get away with less than half of what you guys spend. (Source: Infoplease, http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934556.html)
But, OK, you outspend us by nearly two to one. What do you get for all that extra expenditure?
Do you live longer?
Well no, it turns out that on average Australians outlive Americans by three years and five months. Here are life expectancy figures at birth for Australians and Americans.
Life expectancy at birth in years US vs Australia:
United States: 78.4
Australia: 81.8
Difference: 3.4
(Source: CIA World Fact Book)
Incidentally White Americans on average live about 6 months longer than the US national average. So Australians only outlive White Americans by about three years.
What about at the other end? What about infant mortality rates? In the US infant mortality rates run at 6.06 per thousand live births. For every thousand babies born in the United States a little more than six don't get to celebrate their first birthday. (Source: CIA World Factbook)
Maybe that's where Aussies are saving money on healthcare. Maybe Aussie babies are dying like flies.
Oops. It turns out that Australian infant mortality rates are only 4.61 per thousand live births. (Source: CIA World Factbook).
In Australia an extra 1.45 babies per thousand live births survive.
Let's see what this means. A little more than 4 million babies were born in the United States in 2010. If the US had Australia's infant mortality rates the lives of nearly 6,000 babies would have been saved.
6,000 American babies died needlessly last year. That's twice the number of people who died in 9 / 11.
Let's take this a step further. According to 2011 edition of Statistical Abstract of the United States, in 2008 Americans spent $2.34 Trillion on healthcare. You'll spend more in 2011 but let's stick with the 2008 figures for now. Of this private sources paid $1.23 trillion. The remaining $1.11 trillion was funded by the states and the Federal government. The Federal Government's share came to around $800 billion.
Now let's suppose you could cut per capita healthcare expenditure to Australian levels while keeping the relative contribution of the Federal Government the same. That would mean a cut of 48% or $336 billion.
Now some of that Federal Government expenditure is for things you wouldn't want to cut such as medical research. However you could probably still cut about $300 billion.
At the moment the Congress is struggling to find $100 billion in cuts. If your per capita healthcare expenditure were to drop to Australian levels you'd save three times the amount the Congress cut. And remember I used 2008 expenditures because that's the latest year for which I have detailed figures. It would be more today.
There's more. Here's a snippet from Business Week:
Medical problems caused 62% of all personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. in 2007, according to a study by Harvard researchers. And in a finding that surprised even the researchers, 78% of those filers had medical insurance at the start of their illness, including 60.3% who had private coverage, not Medicare or Medicaid
I've never heard of "medical bankruptcy" in Australia.
OK, here is the bottom line.
There is no such thing as a perfect healthcare system and only the invincibly foolish think it's possible to design one. I can point to many problems with healthcare in Australia.
There are many factors that influence longevity and infant mortality that have nothing to do with the nation's healthcare system. These include lifestyle factors such as obesity and just plain bad parenting.
There is no "one size fits all" when it comes healthcare. What works in Australia may not work in the United States.
Nonetheless, looking at the big picture, we see that compared to all other wealthy countries:
Americans die younger
More American babies die within a year of birth
Americans spend more much more on healthcare
Does something strike you as wrong with this picture?
See also:
The Cost Conundrum: What a Texas town can teach us about health care.by Atul Gawand
Maybe it's time for a change. What do you have to lose except an early death, lots of dead babies and bankruptcy both national and personal?
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