May I make a small point on costs and such?
Let's begin with an observation:
The US should be paying more for health care than other countries. Health care is a normal good: as the average income of a country rises, so does its demand for health care. It is completely normal and expected that the average American would spend more on health care than the average German or Frenchman or Englishman. This is a point that is not stressed enough; even if the US had a 'socialized' healthcare system, spending per capita and spending as a fraction of GDP would not fall to the levels you see in Europe.
That's one side of the story. But there's a 'but' coming. And it's a big 'but'.
The US should be spending more on health care. It does, clearly. But the US is spending a
whole lot more than would be expected, even taking into account wealth effects.
A picture:
I know this treads old ground, but it ought to be pointed out every now and again.
That leaves two important questions:
1) Why is the US spending so darn much on health care, even after taking into account the effects of being a richer nation?
2) Does the Affordable Care Act move the US downward on the graph -- closer to where we should be given our income level?
The first question is addressed nicely
here, a ten-post series on excess cost in the American system. The second? I'm not sure, it's been a few months since I've dug into the specifics of the law. Perhaps I'll have an incentive to revisit the matter soon.
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