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U.S. is on fast track to health care train wreck - We need Medicare For ALL
With the impending repeal of Obamacare, America is headed toward a public policy train wreck.
Three seemingly unstoppable trends in America are on collision course: 1) the inventiveness of the promoters of medical technology; 2) health care insurers and providers’ excessive costs; and (3) the health care expectations of the American public.
America is sleeping as this collision draws nearer. As Winston Churchill warned us 70 years ago, democracies always seem to wake up 20 years too late. We believe that even if America awoke tomorrow, it would be too late to avoid many aspects of the coming collision.
But what an opportunity! If we spent what other developed nations spend on health care, we could balance the budget and fund a myriad of other important public needs.
In 2015 we spent $3.2 trillion on health care, which was $10,000 per person in the U.S., ($25,000 for a typical American family). This is 17.5 percentof the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). To put this in perspective, this is more than twice what most other developed nations spend on health care while insuring all of their residents. This year we are on track to exceed that amount with it being 18 percent of GDP.
. . .
The ideal health insurance system is one that: provides free choice of hospitals and doctors; provides insurance coverage to all at all times (i.e., not tied to an employer); is affordable and will remove all risk of medical bankruptcy. This system should have an administrative cost of less than 5 percent and have everyone in the risk pool, thus making premiums affordable. We have such a system now: Medicare covers all persons over 65, those on total disability, and all renal dialysis patients.
Three seemingly unstoppable trends in America are on collision course: 1) the inventiveness of the promoters of medical technology; 2) health care insurers and providers’ excessive costs; and (3) the health care expectations of the American public.
America is sleeping as this collision draws nearer. As Winston Churchill warned us 70 years ago, democracies always seem to wake up 20 years too late. We believe that even if America awoke tomorrow, it would be too late to avoid many aspects of the coming collision.
But what an opportunity! If we spent what other developed nations spend on health care, we could balance the budget and fund a myriad of other important public needs.
In 2015 we spent $3.2 trillion on health care, which was $10,000 per person in the U.S., ($25,000 for a typical American family). This is 17.5 percentof the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). To put this in perspective, this is more than twice what most other developed nations spend on health care while insuring all of their residents. This year we are on track to exceed that amount with it being 18 percent of GDP.
. . .
The ideal health insurance system is one that: provides free choice of hospitals and doctors; provides insurance coverage to all at all times (i.e., not tied to an employer); is affordable and will remove all risk of medical bankruptcy. This system should have an administrative cost of less than 5 percent and have everyone in the risk pool, thus making premiums affordable. We have such a system now: Medicare covers all persons over 65, those on total disability, and all renal dialysis patients.
http://www.denverpost.com/2016/12/17/u-s-is-on-fast-track-to-health-care-train-wreck/
5 replies
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in normal times I could say I don't care because I at least have a guaranteed income.
But the fucking Repubs are coming after that. This year's "COLA" was smaller than my rent increase. Next year, my mandatory Medicare deduction kicks in, assuming that's still there. I'm starting to feel like I'm out on a very weak limb, and there are lots of evil conservatives running around with hatchets and saws.
