6 ms·

> As I see it, the US spends a fortune on health, and gets a dodgy system. Too true. One of my favorite infographics regarding health care: http://www.fastcomp

> As I see it, the US spends a fortune on health, and gets a dodgy system. Too true. One of my favorite infographics regarding health care: http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/cliff-kuang/design-innovation/infographic-day-how-bad-us-healthcare http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/cliff-kuang/design-innovatio... We see doctors less, spend more than twice the average anyway, and have below average life expectancy.

anamax 17y ago
> We see doctors less, spend more than twice the average anyway, and have below average life expectancy. And we have a very different population. Obesity is only the most obvious example. And no, healthcare doesn't address obesity, even if your argument requires that it do so. And we spend more on end-of-life. Unless govt death panels are going to be more frugal than private ones, that cost-differential will persist. And we pay for a huge fraction of the world's drug development. Are you planning to cut back there? Well over $150B of existing medicare/medicaid spending is fraudulent, which is significantly more than the "excess overhead and profits" of private insurance. Will that go up or down?
- Xichekolas 17y ago
  I agree with all your explicit points, and I realize that graph is a very crude indicator. Also, I agree with the implicit point I think you are making, which is that this reform really does nothing to address these issues. (Although I would also say that I'm fine paying for the drug development. We shouldn't stop doing something that benefits us just because others can take advantage.) So yeah, I really don't have a rebuttal because I agree with you. I wanted much more out of reform, but at this point I'm happy with anything that might get us a bit closer, especially if it makes it easier to reform in the future (which may be wishful thinking).

6 ms·

> As I see it, the US spends a fortune on health, and gets a dodgy system. Too true. One of my favorite infographics regarding health care: http://www.fastcomp

by Xichekolas 17y ago

anamax 17y ago
> We see doctors less, spend more than twice the average anyway, and have below average life expectancy. And we have a very different population. Obesity is only the most obvious example. And no, healthcare doesn't address obesity, even if your argument requires that it do so. And we spend more on end-of-life. Unless govt death panels are going to be more frugal than private ones, that cost-differential will persist. And we pay for a huge fraction of the world's drug development. Are you planning to cut back there? Well over $150B of existing medicare/medicaid spending is fraudulent, which is significantly more than the "excess overhead and profits" of private insurance. Will that go up or down?
- Xichekolas 17y ago
  I agree with all your explicit points, and I realize that graph is a very crude indicator. Also, I agree with the implicit point I think you are making, which is that this reform really does nothing to address these issues. (Although I would also say that I'm fine paying for the drug development. We shouldn't stop doing something that benefits us just because others can take advantage.) So yeah, I really don't have a rebuttal because I agree with you. I wanted much more out of reform, but at this point I'm happy with anything that might get us a bit closer, especially if it makes it easier to reform in the future (which may be wishful thinking).