Americans Spend More On Health Care, Live Shorter - Page 2
Now I think healthcare is wonderful — it gets people back to work quickly, it ensures they can spend their money (healthy enough to use services and buy goods) and it creates employment. But it doesn't grow the economy in any meaningful way.
Where the money goes
Although many hospitals are charities, very few of the insurance companies are. Their incentive is to make claims as difficult as possible so that they can collect and not pay out, and the result is that they create extra layers of bureaucracy which in turn cost money for no benefit. Some estimates conclude 40% of all spending on healthcare in USA goes toward administrative duties, with no added value to the patient.
No wonder they want to keep healthcare private — it's a money spinner!
Then there are the doctors. With a culture of suing everyone for everything, doctors have to pay substantial insurance premiums to protect themselves so they can continue practicing. Many private hospitals and clinics also support free universal healthcare at the point of need in the UK, and oppose it unaccountably in USA.
What's the alternative?
Well, the UK system is pretty good — so good, in fact, that immigrants from all over the world (both legal and illegal) put themselves through hell and travel right across Europe to get into the UK.
It costs around 8.9% of GDP. It's available to everyone, from the factory worker who breaks his shin playing soccer, to the teacher picking up yet another disease from snotty kids, to the entrepreneur who risked everything on a venture and doesn't have money in the bank for healthcare. How many bankruptcies are there in US as a result of healthcare bills? That can't be a good way to run an economy!
So think about it — what is the most profitable (if you will) way to run a country? In healthcare terms, the UK does pretty well, but the USA is dreadful!
Graph prepared in Minitab from WHOSIS demographics and health figures
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