Why Is Life Expectancy In The US Lower Than In Other Rich Countries?

 

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Medicare For All

Top Economist Robert Pollin Answers Key Questions on the Emerging Divide Between Sanders and Warren on Medicare for All

'Majority of Americans Agree With Me and Bernie': Michael Moore Makes Powerful Case for Medicare for All on Post-Debate MSNBC Panel

Republicans and even some Democrats are out to scare you about Medicare for All

Medicare For All Would Cost Less, Not More

Pundits and other candidates keep claiming that Elizabeth Warren's and Bernie Sanders's Medicare For All plan is too expensive, a pipe dream, just not realistic.

Yet ...

It Won't Matter, But Medicare For All Would Cost Less And Cover 30 Million Americans

According to the Mercatus model, total health spending would actually come in about $303 billion lower in 2031 than under current projections, with $7.35 trillion going to healthcare that year versus $7.65 trillion expected now. Total national health spending would be $2 trillion lower from 2022 to 2031 under the plan, the report found. While the price tag for the federal government would increase significantly, decreased spending by other groups would lower total healthcare spending over that 10-year period. Meanwhile, the model also assumes that 30 million more people would get access to healthcare, and many people would get more robust services. The savings would come from a variety of places, such as the government's ability to leverage its bargaining power into lower prescription-drug costs and mandating all healthcare providers take the lower Medicare payment rate.

The next time you hear someone repeat the 'Medicare For All would cost too much' talking-point, immediately call bullshit. 

Stop Cryin' In Yer Beer

I've heard varieties of the "Obama hasn't done anything" idea spouted about in the media, from friends, by co-workers, etc.

Now, I wanted a more liberal agenda pursued, but nonetheless, I'm not blind to the fact that Barack Obama has accomplished very, very big things.

Government is shrinking, deficits are declining, employment is improving, health care inflation is subsiding, infrastructure projects have been completed nationwide ...

For Further Enlightenment:

PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS DONE A LOT! A LIST OF 340 ACCOMPLISHMENTS SO FAR, WITH CITATIONS

Obama's top 10 accomplishments

Obama's Top 50 Accomplishments

History will be very kind

In Defense of Obama

Down With Success!

Only in America can the Republicans - the guardians of government efficiency and fiscal fortitude - score political points disparaging legislation that will save the taxpayers $1 trillion more than projected.

Pharma Companies Spend More On Marketing Than On Research

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Health Expenditure As A Share Of GDP

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Health Care Scandal Hype

Veterans and Zombies: The Hype Behind the Health Care Scandal

Excerpt:

So here’s what you need to know: It’s still true that Veterans Affairs provides excellent care, at low cost. Those waiting lists arise partly because so many veterans want care, but Congress has provided neither clear guidelines on who is entitled to coverage, nor sufficient resources to cover all applicants. And, yes, some officials appear to have responded to incentives to reduce waiting times by falsifying data. 

Yet, on average, veterans don’t appear to wait longer for care than other Americans. And does anyone doubt that many Americans have died while waiting for approval from private insurers? 

A scandal is a scandal, and wrongdoing must be punished. But beware of people trying to use the veterans’ care scandal to derail health reform. 

And here’s the thing: Health reform is working. Too many Americans still lack good insurance, and hence lack access to health care and protection from high medical costs — but not as many as last year, and next year should be better still. Health costs are still far too high, but their growth has slowed dramatically. We’re moving in the right direction, and we shouldn’t let the zombies get in our way.

For Further Reading:
The Best Care Anywhere

Government Health Programs Save Everyone Money

Government Health Programs Save Everyone Money: Study

More and more it seems that, when the government subsidizes health insurance, patients' share of health care costs go down. 

The latest evidence: In the years immediately following the implementation of Medicare and Medicaid -- two programs that dramatically expanded government-sponsored health coverage -- patients’ share of out-of-pocket costs dropped by 40 percent, according to a December paper from Jeffrey Clemens, an economist at the University of California at San Diego. Out-of-pocket costs are what patients are responsible for paying on their own. In the case of insured patients, those costs can include copays and deductibles. Uninsured patients typically have to pay for all of their medical services “out-of-pocket.”

In the charts above, the dotted lines represent the share of various health-care costs paid out-of-pocket by patients, and the solid red lines represent the percent change in the share of out-of-pocket health care costs since 1960. 

The explanation for the precipitous drop in patient costs is somewhat obvious, said Clemens. 

"The period right around 1965 had such a large drop because a pretty substantial fraction of seniors basically didn’t have insurance against hospital episodes and office visits at that time," he said. "Covering that population just kind of mechanically meant that people were paying way less out of pocket when they had the need to go to hospital." 

As Medicaid became more comprehensive, patients' out-of-pocket costs continued to drop, Clements said, ultimately falling 90 percent from their 1960 levels by 1980. 

The study adds to a growing body of evidence that these government entitlement programs helped cut health-care cost burdens for struggling consumers. Just 16 percent of funding for personal health care came from out-of-pocket payments in 2003, down from 55 percent in 1960, according to a 2005 study from the Department of Health and Human Services. 

And Medicaid alone kept at least 2.6 million people out of poverty in 2010, according to a recent paper in the Journal of Health Economics. 

If the pattern holds, the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, could lead to even more cost savings. Out-of-pocket health-care costs will drop from $1,463 to just $34 per year in 2016 for the 11.6 million low-income Americans who are expected get health coverage as a result of the law’s expansion of Medicaid, according to an October RAND study.

Health Care Spending As A Percent Of GDP

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Health Spending By Age & Country

Health Spending By Age & Country

U.S Health Care Spending

Explaining High Health Care Spending In The U.S.