Don’t be fooled; this isn’t a criticism of Obamacare. It’s another “look how broken the current system is” article. We can hire Deloitte to come up with any number we want with respect to “hidden” costs associated with “infrastructure defects” or making cheeseburgers for that matter.
We probably “lose” billions of dollars in productivity while in traffic, but it’s not really a valid cost assumption. On a macro level, we theoretically waste trillions.
“We probably “lose” billions of dollars in productivity while in traffic, but it’s not really a valid cost assumption.”
I’m not sure why you think lost productivity is an invalid cost measure. Among major industrialized countries, Japan spends much less on health care as a percent of the economy. But the families of Japanese hospital patients are expected to do much of what nurses do in our system. Thus, unless you monetize these productivity losses, you get a very misleading impression of the true resource cost of the Japanese health system compared to ours. Informal caregiving isn’t “free” even though it doesn’t show up in any country’s National Health Expenditure accounts.
Don’t be fooled; this isn’t a criticism of Obamacare. It’s another “look how broken the current system is” article.
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Exactly right — it is cnn carrying the water for this administration yet again...
This article focuses on theoretical costs. But what about the costs of Obamacare? Shouldn’t the cost of a new government bureaucracy be added to the national health care tab? Michele Bachmann’s $105 billion. That should be added in. Higher premiums. The costs of policing a new system. New taxes (wait till we get a VAT). The problem with health care has always been its cost. Under Obamacare, society will pay more for health care for lower quality care.