The general consensus is that the U.S. spends more on health care than other high-income countries but has worse outcomes.
"Data from the OECD show that the U.S. spent 17.1 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care in 2013. This was almost 50 percent more than the next-highest spender (France, 11.6% of GDP) and almost double what was spent in the U.K. (8.8%)."
If there are benefits to a private system, we aren't seeing them. (That may be because we don't have a private system OR a public system. We have a frankenstein hybrid that's the worst of both and works for no one.)
The biggest problem is all the attention has been focused on who pays, rather than how much. The cost system for US Healthcare is so opaque, so disjointed that no one--not the providers, not the customers, not the insurers--have the required understanding or motivations to control costs.
I absolutely think that a national policy should focus on maximizing outcomes across society, but it is easy to imagine that some people don't care about the outcomes that other people receive.
The general consensus is that the U.S. spends more on health care than other high-income countries but has worse outcomes.
"Data from the OECD show that the U.S. spent 17.1 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care in 2013. This was almost 50 percent more than the next-highest spender (France, 11.6% of GDP) and almost double what was spent in the U.K. (8.8%)."
If there are benefits to a private system, we aren't seeing them. (That may be because we don't have a private system OR a public system. We have a frankenstein hybrid that's the worst of both and works for no one.)
The biggest problem is all the attention has been focused on who pays, rather than how much. The cost system for US Healthcare is so opaque, so disjointed that no one--not the providers, not the customers, not the insurers--have the required understanding or motivations to control costs.