A Little Quiz

Bill,

Here’s a little quiz that will help define the problem that the Obamacare you so detest is trying to address

Q: Percent of GNP that the US currently spends on healthcare

A: 17

Q: Rank by county that the US occupies as a result of the answer to Q1

A: 1^st

Q: Rank by country of the US in major indices of health, such as life expectancy and infant mortality.

A: 37^th  

Q: Non industrialized countries that rank ahead of the US

A:Oman, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Costa Rica

Q: Percent of Americans with no health care coverage whatsoever prior to passage of the ACA

A: 16.3.  That’s 48 million people if you want to do the math.

Q:$64,971

A: Average lifetime Medicare contribuiton

Q: $173886

A: Average lifetime Medicare expenditure

Whether or not you agree with the solutions promulgated by the ACA (and I certainly don’t agree with many of them), the magnitude and multiplicity of the problems it’s addressing are beyond questioning. Americans pay way too much for their health care.  They don’t get vey much for what they pay. Lots of them don’t get any health care at all. What’s more I would argue that, unless restrained, the relentless rise in Medicare expenditures  represents the single greatest threat to the long term fiscal integrity of the Unites States. So we have to do something if we don’t want to end up a colossal version of Greece in about ten years. I’m looking forward to chewing over that bone with you in detail

Eli