Out Health Care Spending Problem is Solvable
Posted at 3:15 p.m. on Jan. 23
Matthew Yglesias looks at data showing that the US government spends more on health care per resident than Canada, noting that “Canada covers all its citizens and we don’t. That should be considered shocking stuff, and yet I rarely hear it mentioned.”
“Canada’s public sector health care system…is available to people of all ages, and thus has even more bulk purchasing power than its American analogue. That allows it to obtain services at a much lower price, which reduces spending.”
“Now there are no doubt downsides to this approach. High levels of health care spending incentivize investment in health care technology. Less spending may equal less innovation and less progress. But that’s a free-floating objection to anything that would reduce health care spending volumes.”
