The Wonking Dead

By Paul Krugman

The Commonwealth Fund is out with a new report comparing advanced-country health care systems, and the (mostly pre-Obamacare) US system looks very bad indeed: vastly higher spending per capita than anyone else, with worse results.

Of course, this is nothing new. And as always pointing out the obvious brings out claims that the US system is somehow superior despite its lousy outcomes. Aaron Carroll helpfully reminds us that all of the arguments surfacing here are zombies – arguments that should have died in the face of clear evidence that they’re wrong, but keep on shambling along nonetheless. (I actually learned the term “zombie idea” from the health care discussion, specifically the unending attempts to trash the Canadian system.)

I think it’s important, however, to be explicit about something Carroll obviously knows but doesn’t emphasize: the reason for the prevalence of zombies in this field. Some of it is chauvinism. But the main reason for the zombies is unwillingness to accept facts that conflict with ideology. The American health care system is by far the most privatized, most market-oriented system in the advanced world; it’s also far and away the most expensive, without any sign of getting anything for all that money.

If you are committed to the view that the magic of the market solves all problems, this is disturbing – so it must not be true. Bring on the zombies!

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/17/the-wonking-dead/?_php=true&_type=blogs&smid=re-share&_r=0

Best title ever!