Want $4,000?

[Onlooker]

If we can reduce health care costs to that of

France
Canada
England
Sweden
Denmark
Australia
Italy
Japan

or any other country that has quality health care, we will save $1.2 trillion/year.

That's $4,000 for every man, woman, and child that will show up as tax cuts, increased wages, improved investments, better education, and so on.

Why is this message so difficult to get across to people?

PROOF

Per capita cost of health care in western nations is about half of what spend in the U.S.:


Our total cost of health care is $2.4 trillion/year
http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml

If we cut our costs in half, that $1.2 trillion. Divide that by 300 million, and you get $4,000 for every man, woman, and child.

Or, use the above chart and choose one of the countries and multiply their per capita costs by 300 million.

For example, Canada spends per capita $3,505. Multiply that by 300,000,000 and you get $1.05 trillion, well under half of what we currently spend.

[Doctor_J]

1. A great deal of the overage is salaries and bonuses for health non-care

executives. That, and all of the bureaucrats they pay to find ways to not pay claims. Good luck getting that out of the system.

[Wapsie B]

3. Exactly. That is a part of the sysem people refuse to anything about.

Getting a hospital or insurance company to start trimming senior level managers is near impossible this day and age.

[Kalyke]

2. Because people are selfish.

They don't want their precious taxes going up. :eyes:

Of course, they never figure that the typical American family of four pays a total of, on average, $6,824 a year in deductibles, premiums, co-pays and procedures not covered or under-covered.

I am a member of a typical American family of four and I somehow doubt my taxes are going to go up $6,000 a year. Using the highest best-guess data, my taxes might increase about $1,000 to $1,200 (average would be about $700 -$800) a year.

I think I'd rather pay $1,200 in taxes and not have to pay premiums, deductibles, co-pays and for procedures not covered or under-covered. I'd be saving about $5,624 a year!!!

[orwell]

4. So why are we talking about throwing...

...another trillion or so over the next ten years into the health care system? This can only be a windfall for the private insurers and drug companies.

That is why the AMA and Pharma are behind the health care movement this time. It means big bucks to them.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

5. What about all the rich people who demand MRIs for toothache?

[NYC_SKP]

6. I'm almost as happy that a handful of people WONT be getting that $4000/person...

...as I am that each of us will realize that savings.

Recommended!

:patriot:

[hughee99]

7. I wonder what percentage of that $6,500 goes to insurance companies

not for health insurance, but for malpractice insurance. France recently adopted the "Scandinavian system" where a pool of money is created for such payouts (somewhat similar to worker's comp) and cases are heard not in a regular court, but by a special administrative system setup to handle such issues. It's easier to get issues addressed than in the US, but the payouts are generally smaller (as I understand it anyway).

[earth mom]

8. Cut out the fucking insurance company middlemen & the g'ment could easily afford health care for all

But the insurance companies control Washington DC and it's past time for the people to get out the pitchforks.

Except that way too many people are too busy cheerleading the very people who don't give a flying fuck about them to see how much they are being bullshitted.