Posted on 09/10/2009 5:37:29 AM PDT by Mustang Driver
Robert Fogel won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1993. He wrote a piece last week in which he explained the two reasons why Americans spend more money on health care than everyone else in the world.
First, Americans have had more money to spend.
"Between 1875 and 1995, the share of family income spent on food, clothing, and shelter declined from 87 percent to just 30 percent, despite the fact that we eat more food, own more clothes, and have better and larger homes today than we had in 1875," Fogel wrote.
If we limit the basics to these three items, that means spending on non-basic items rose from 13 percent of income in 1875 to 70 percent in 1995.
That is a fivefold increase.
Some of it went to entertainment, some of it went to government (taxes are much higher), and the rest went to other things, including health care.
So we have had more money to spend on health care.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.com ...
This is a fairly clear headed look at this issue.
The magic fairly of government will not reduce the US healthcare spend. It will create decades of chaos, likely kill lots more folks than 17K per year, all while draining the Treasury.
We are far more likely to see a doctor today for something we would have just toughed out 50 years ago.
What should we be spending our money on? More shoes? Why is it better to buy makeup than spend it on your health?
I have to disagree. The amount we spend as individuals isn’t the cause... it’s the amount the government spends and encourages to be spent. Health care costs have gone astronomical since the advent of Medicare, Medicaid and associated programs... not to mention HMOs and various insurance plans.
Market forces have been juiced in the equation by too much money chasing services.
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