Re:Both in rich and poor countries, universal health care br...
by soru on Wednesday May 02, 2018 @01:00PM
(#16978922)
> The US does spend a lot more, and doesn't cover everyone.
The US does spend a lot more, _because_ it doesn't cover everybody.
The use-value of private health care in the the US is:
- delta (getting treated, slow painful death and/or bankruptcy)
whereas most places it is more like:
- delta (private room in fancy building, non-private room in an oldish building)
If you were a salesman, and you sold the first product for less than 5x the price of the second, you would deserve to be sacked on the spot. How could a profit-seeking economic system be so inefficient that it would fail to extract a large portion of that value from the customer?
> he US needs to focus on lowering costs
Why would a profit-seeking system seek to lower costs when high costs led to higher prices that still get paid? Any CEO suggesting such a thing would be sacked by the board the same day.
Do the math; costs are about 3x what they should be, but 85% of the market still pays them. 3 * 0.85 > 1 * 1.0.
The US does spend a lot more, _because_ it doesn't cover everybody.
The use-value of private health care in the the US is:
- delta (getting treated, slow painful death and/or bankruptcy)
whereas most places it is more like:
- delta (private room in fancy building, non-private room in an oldish building)
If you were a salesman, and you sold the first product for less than 5x the price of the second, you would deserve to be sacked on the spot. How could a profit-seeking economic system be so inefficient that it would fail to extract a large portion of that value from the customer?
> he US needs to focus on lowering costs
Why would a profit-seeking system seek to lower costs when high costs led to higher prices that still get paid? Any CEO suggesting such a thing would be sacked by the board the same day.
Do the math; costs are about 3x what they should be, but 85% of the market still pays them. 3 * 0.85 > 1 * 1.0.