News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:High US health care spending explained by its high materi... by arcticbull on Sunday March 12, 2017 @07:13PM (#13853844)
Is it possible that healthcare in the US is a "superior good" (definition in article) because the lower quartiles can't afford proper care and as they become wealthier they progress from zero care, to basic plans that don't cover nearly what they should, to plans equivalent to the care people receive elsewhere in the world as a right of citizenship?
Re:High US health care spending explained by its high materi... by Spooky23 on Sunday March 12, 2017 @08:36PM (#13854283)
The bottom quartile didn't get zero care. The poorest of the poor are all eligible for Medicaid or get ad hoc acute care from emergency rooms.

The people who get shafted are the middle-class or working class people who are stuck with contracting gigs or shitty employers who face financial ruin if they get sick. Your average truck driver, for example, is far more likely to die from preventable heart ailments due to the nature of the job and the inability to access medical care, even with insurance. That's a big reason why CVS Doc in the Box and Urgent care is a thing.

Re:High US health care spending explained by its high materi... by yummyfajitas on Sunday March 12, 2017 @07:30PM (#13853935)
No it's not. As it relates to this article, the relevant metric is whether healthcare is a superior good relative to GDP/capita. Those measurements are based on country data, including countries that have socialized medicine.

Here's a link to the embedded image of text that explains this (which you can also find in the 3rd paragraph or so): https://randomcriticalanalysis.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/s...

Re:High US health care spending explained by its high materi... by photojosh on Sunday March 12, 2017 @07:36PM (#13853965)
My immediate thought too.