U.S. outspends other countries on health care
By Austin Frakt and Aaron E. Carroll, New York Times
The United States spends almost twice as much on health care, as a percentage of its economy, as other advanced industrialized countries — totaling $3.3 trillion, or 17.9 percent of gross domestic product in 2016.
But a few decades ago American health care spending was much closer to that of peer nations.
What happened?
A large part of the answer can be found in the title of a 2003 paper in Health Affairs by the Princeton University health economist Uwe Reinhardt: “It’s the prices, stupid.”
Thank you for publishing this article. Although I can understand the perspective of lawmakers who oppose Republican-sponsored changes to the Affordable Care Act, what I don’t see is acknowledgment that we pay far more for far less than any other advanced industrialized country.
Another interesting analysis of the issue was provided by James M. Stone in his 2016 book, Five Easy Theses, in which he describes five important economic challenges including health care. You don’t have to agree with his prescriptions for change to find his analysis of factors leading to out of control costs well worth thinking about.