Fix Health Care - Fix The Economy
07/31/08 | Comment (2)
With the nation focused on our economy, higlighted by the spiraling price of gas, Phil Bredesen, the governor of Tennessee, hits on the larger issue:
Gas prices are in the political spotlight right now; this year's spike has been painful and the calls for action — and heads — have pushed other issues to the side. But it is worth remembering that when it comes to real, sustained growth in costs, when it comes to real, sustained erosion of families' disposable income, gas still can't hold a candle to the real elephant in the room: health care.
If gas prices had risen during my adult lifetime — since I got out of high school in 1961 — at the same rate as per capita health-care expenditures, gas would not be $4 a gallon today. It would be about $15.
In this election season, we need to demand more attention to health care. It's not the squeaky wheel now, but after gas prices have been driven down or we have bought smaller cars, our health-care problem will still be with us.
I want to connect this with a larger point. Health care costs, as Bredesen points out, are 1/6th of our economy. How do we expect to get our economic situation fixed with 15% of our economy tied up in a wasteful system that fails to provide customers with the value it promises.
Now, there's nothing wrong with spending a substantial portion of our GDP on our health, though certainly the fact that the U.S. spends more of its GDP per capital on health care than pretty much anywhere in the world deserves some thought. However, when that money is flowing into an industry full of waste (private insurance is less efficient than public plans like Medicare), and when that money fails to provide people with adequate coverage, something is broken. Very simply, in America we pay a lot, but we get very little for that money. It would be one thing if we got what we pay for - if American's huge expenditures on health care bought us the best coverage in the world - but that's not true. The U.S. ranks 37th among world health care systems.
So, given that we are spending 15% of our national prosperity on a product that fails to deliver on its promises, is it any wonder we find ourselves in dire straight economically? And if we could get that same 15% that we spend on health care working harder, isn't it possible we could either a) spend less, or b) get more for that money, and that would help turn our economy around? Healthy children learn more. Healthy adults work more. Healthy contries are more prosperous.
It's not rocket science. Fix the health care system and you make a real dent in fixing our economy.
--Jason Rosenbaum, Health Care for America Now
