Aetna CEO Threatened Obamacare Pullout If Feds Opposed Humana Merger

Re:Aetna CEO Threatened Obamacare Pullout If Feds Opposed Hu... by graeme on Wednesday August 17, 2016 @02:30PM (#12307087)

Why do you say inefficiencies? 40% is entirely out of context, because you haven't listed what other budgeting responsibilities Canadian provinces have.

Canada spends far less per capita on health than the us, and gets better outcomes.

It's certainly expensive, but it's hard to make the case that Canadian care is expensive relative to the US.

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Re:Aetna CEO Threatened Obamacare Pullout If Feds Opposed Hu... by Mister_Snuggles on Wednesday August 17, 2016 @02:56PM (#12307325)

I was replying to this part of the parent comment when I used the words "inefficiencies" and "waste":

> Does the lack of a large private insurance market in countries with government-provided health insurance cause lots of inefficiencies and waste?

I also acknowledged that I have no idea if $20B is good or bad. And I did not make the case that it's more or less expensive relative to the US.

Another commenter took the Alberta budget numbers and ran with it to get to a per-capita cost relative to the US.

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Re:Aetna CEO Threatened Obamacare Pullout If Feds Opposed Hu... by parasubvert on Wednesday August 17, 2016 @04:05PM (#12307956)

It's all relative. Alberta is "high" compared to other provinces though in the ball park of the other prairie provinces (Sask & Manitoba) per capita, though BC only spends $18B-ish for a higher population.

Ontario spends $50.8B, pop 13.1m, which seems more efficient per capita than Alberta; France is inline with that per capita ; the UK spends $195.8B (CAD), pop 64.1m, which is even lower.

In general, health care is really damn expensive.

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