“This is the chart that I think ought to dominate the conversation about public-sector health-care spending in the United States,” writes Matt Yglesias, “and yet it is curiously ignored.”
“The data show government health-care spending per capita in the United States and Canada. The United States spends more. And that’s not more per person who gets government health insurance, it’s more per resident. And yet Canada covers all its citizens, and we don’t. That should be considered shocking stuff, and yet I rarely hear it mentioned.”
It should be considered shocking stuff. But I actually don’t think that’s the chart that should dominate the discussion over government health-care spending. This is:
I think this shows that the money spent on health care is siphoned off, so to speak, finding its way into the profit coffers rather than to patient care. U.S. healthcare is a dysfunctional market, one that is not subjected to real competition. Consider:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/72813380/Reinserting-Citizens-Into-US-Healthcare
Nice piece, and I especially like its focus on the individual healthcare consumer. I’m not sure about insurers circumventing state requirements, though. Thanks for contributing!
Actually, dropping state barriers was discussed during the ACA debate. It was the insurers who shot the idea down, not wanting to open their “turfs” to competition.