tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post4837127342678758727..comments2024-03-06T06:34:42.881-05:00Comments on EconoSpeak: What Might That Compromise On Health Care Between Biden And Bernie Look Like?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-21543711355636381492020-03-14T22:46:39.514-04:002020-03-14T22:46:39.514-04:00I guess I didn't understand your first reply. ...I guess I didn't understand your first reply. Sorry. But it seems we agree for the most part.<br /><br />That is good news about the testing. About time.Jerry Brownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-68718288701068908332020-03-14T21:59:40.510-04:002020-03-14T21:59:40.510-04:00BTW, just got off phone with two daughters (and th...BTW, just got off phone with two daughters (and three grandsons) iin Bay Area of CA, and one of them works at Kaiser Permanente. Apparently they have just started drive-through testing for Covid-19 at Kaiser out there. About time this got going.rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-10442859236192259702020-03-14T21:57:36.353-04:002020-03-14T21:57:36.353-04:00Of course I think that the evidence you mention is...Of course I think that the evidence you mention is a sign we are not doing things the right way. I note that up until as recently as 30 years ago, certainly 40 years ago, spending per capita in the US was not that different from what was going on in other high income nations. The divergence has been since then and been very dramatic. It is also the case that there is no single clear source of this, with it coming from various parts of the US health care system, which is part of why it has been so hard to get at it, lots of interest groups out there benefiting from this and strongly resisting cutting any of this back with so much of it clearly wasteful and unnecessary.rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-32830276582888681452020-03-14T18:58:36.691-04:002020-03-14T18:58:36.691-04:00Barkley, if we aren't by far the wealthiest na...Barkley, if we aren't by far the wealthiest nation but actually are spending the most per capita on health care, wouldn't you consider that a bit of evidence that maybe we aren't doing things the best way? Especially if our outcomes are not the best in the world either. I would.Jerry Brownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-86222353597817585042020-03-14T15:16:27.730-04:002020-03-14T15:16:27.730-04:00Jerry,
No, we are not by far the wealthiest natio...Jerry,<br /><br />No, we are not by far the wealthiest nation per capita in the world, although pretty high up. It is not that big of a deal that with a bit over 50% of our health care costs covered publicly our government spends as much per capita as nations that have public sector paying around 75%, with those nations spending about 10-12% of GDP on health care while US spends about 17% of GDP so.rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-25260971012108950452020-03-13T23:37:41.343-04:002020-03-13T23:37:41.343-04:00There is sometimes made the argument that as a nat...There is sometimes made the argument that as a nation's wealth or income increases, the demand for health care will increase more as a percentage of total income. If this argument is true, and I'm not saying it isn't, the US must be far wealthier than all others since we spend so much more on health care.<br /><br />I have also heard that despite our private health care insurance system covering around half our population, US government overall actually spends about as much per capita on health care as the other wealthy nations we generally compare ourselves to do in total (per capita again). Maybe that's because we are so wealthy? <br /><br />I don't understand my fellow Americans very well I guess. Jerry Brownnoreply@blogger.com