You can complain about socialized medicine and tout the advantages of a free market until the cows come home, but this graph shows we are obviously doing something wrong. I find it especially ironic that Cuba is right next to us.
Health Care Costs
January 11th, 2009 · 6 Comments
Tags: Politics
6 responses so far ↓
1 JMacy // Jan 12, 2009 at 10:55 am
Interesting! I liked your comment about “until the cows come home”. I do have some thoughts on why our costs are so high, But I’m not sure anyone would appreciate my comments. Even after41 years of experience in healthcare.
2 Yo Daddy // Jan 12, 2009 at 4:51 pm
I’m sure that what I’m about to say doesn’t explain all of the difference in American health cares costs versus the rest of the world but one has to wonder just how much of our cost is lawsuit driven. Is it not a fact that a lot of expensive medical procedures are done unnecessarily just so that Philadelphia lawyers can’t come along and nail medical people and institutions to the wall with multi million dollar lawsuits just in case a one-in-a-thousand test might actually come up with something medically relevant that might have made a difference in a patients care? And, of course, there’s the insanely expensive malpractice insurance for doctors, nurses, hospitals, paramedics, ambulance personnel, et al. And even if a lawsuit is legitimate, courts are awarding insanely large damage awards. A while back, someone was awarded over 100 million for a botched procedure that basically turned them into a vegetable. Ok, some of that will go for their care for the rest of their life…. but (and no disrespect intended) over 100 MILLION for a vegetable??? Well, it all adds up and the industry has to recover those costs somehow. And that pretty much means you and me and what we pay.
3 JMacy // Jan 14, 2009 at 1:38 pm
I wish the diagram broke it down by age groups and removed accidents and removed the indigent illegals that we care for free - but who also die younger. Yes - even in the middle of Kansas we have illegals. The $ spent on them in the US is astounding. That, in turn, raises premiums for every one else. This diagram is too general - too broad.
4 Yo Daddy // Jan 14, 2009 at 6:17 pm
In Southern California, in the past three decades, many hospitals have had to close their emergency rooms because of unrecovered costs associated with the legal mandate that no one can be turned away…. and NO, you may NOT ask about a person’s citizenship status. But a simple observation of the people sitting in the still open emergency waiting rooms shows a large percentage of them to not be blue eyed blond haired Scandinavians… if you get my drift.
5 JMacy // Jan 15, 2009 at 8:47 am
I have an answer - maybe “the” answer. There are lots of reasons why our costs are up. But, they had a special on TV last evening. America is the most obese/over-weight nation in the world. The cost to businesses for sick employees is going up. Health cost is going up because of all the illnesses caused by our over-weight nation. I suppose that means I really should start exercising and cutting out the 3 Mt Dews a day.
6 Yo Daddy // Jan 15, 2009 at 11:28 am
You’ll have to pry my Dr. Pepper’s out of my cold, dead hand.