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eridani

(51,907 posts)
Sat Jul 5, 2014, 06:18 PM Jul 2014

The hard truth about health care: Government works

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/post/the-hard-truth-about-health-care-government-works/2011/05/19/AGcE95KH_blog.html

Everyone knows — or should know — that the United States spends much more than any other country on health care. But the Kaiser Family Foundation broke that spending down into two parts, the government’s share and the private sector’s share (both measured as a percentage of total gross domestic product), then compared the results with figures from 12 other countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. And here’s the shocker: Our government spends more on health care than the governments of Japan, Australia, Norway, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Canada or Switzerland.

Think about that for a minute. Canada has a single-payer health-care system. The government is the only insurer of any note. The United Kingdom has a socialized system, in which the government is not only the sole insurer of note but also employs most of the doctors and nurses and runs most of the hospitals. And yet, measured as a share of the economy, our government health-care system is the largest of the bunch.

And it’s worse than that: Atop our giant government health-care sector, we have an even more giant private health-care sector. Altogether, we’re spending about 16 percent of the GDP on health care. No other country even tops 12 percent. Which means we’ve got the worst of both worlds: huge government and high costs.
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The hard truth about health care: Government works (Original Post) eridani Jul 2014 OP
Even though our Medicare still leaves plenty of opportunity for fraud it is still one Thinkingabout Jul 2014 #1
I hope it survives the lawsuit in the DC court yeoman6987 Jul 2014 #2

Thinkingabout

(30,058 posts)
1. Even though our Medicare still leaves plenty of opportunity for fraud it is still one
Sat Jul 5, 2014, 06:28 PM
Jul 2014

Place to go with claims. We have many more employees to do claims than is used in Canada. A one payer system would simplify our claims work.

 

yeoman6987

(14,449 posts)
2. I hope it survives the lawsuit in the DC court
Sat Jul 5, 2014, 06:47 PM
Jul 2014

2 Republicans and a Democrat are deciding it this upcoming week. If we lose this one, folks are saying Obamacare is dead....not sure if that is true, but that is the whispering right now.

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