Americans Spend More On Health Care, Live Shorter
Do you get better healthcare because you spend more money?
It's quite a challenge. The same companies that happily take money in the United Kingdom to provide "universal healthcare free at the point of need" are lobbying the United States Congress to block President Obama's healthcare reform proposals.
But what do you get for your money? Let's look at spending vs. life expectancy around the world (WHOSIS latest figures are from 2006):
This is just terrible!
The problem is, in Europe and the USA we have enough money to kill ourselves: we drink too much, smoke too much, eat too much, and move too little. We access information to self-diagnose rare conditions (and access inappropriate medication) then expect the health professional to put it all right.
To some extent, we don't care how much it costs, because at £2,000 per head ($3,000 US, €2,000) per year it is affordable in Europe, Asia, and the Antipodes.
Perhaps it is obvious, but as health spending drops from this "reasonable" level, so does life expectancy. What isn't so obvious is the other end of the scale.
The USA stands out. Not only does it have a higher GDP per head of population, but the cost of healthcare is completely out of proportion at close to $8,000 per head (£4,200; €4,300). Yet life expectancy is no better — in fact it's worse. And these figures are from 2006 — healthcare as a proportion of GDP has gone up — so costs may be nearer to $9,000 per head.
What's going on?
This is what President Obama is concerned about. When 17% of the GDP is spent on healthcare, that leaves precious little for anything else. It doesn't matter who is spending it — the state (as in UK and many countries in Europe) or the individual — it matters that this vast proportion of the money is going into a service which doesn't generate exports or even value-adding goods for the country. It is unsustainable. It's like getting rid of all of your engineers (who make things to sell) and replacing them with lawyers (who sue anybody rich to try to take their money from them).
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