Health care is turning into a consumer product

Re:Health care is turning into a consumer product by jltsiren on Monday January 10, 2022 @05:27AM (#29872751)

> Other countries healthcare systems are growing increasingly more inefficient as well, with the proportion of GDP expended on healthcare rapidly rising, with many seeing it double over the last 40 years.

There are two (mostly) unrelated issues: the efficiency of the healthcare system and increasing availability of effective but expensive treatments.

I believe we have already reached the point where even 100% of GDP is insufficient for healthcare. There is always something more you can do, something better you can try. No matter how much money you choose to spend, somebody must eventually make the decision to withhold better care because the economy is not big enough.

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Re:Health care is turning into a consumer product by CryptoPunk on Monday January 10, 2022 @05:35AM (#29872793)

There is in fact a correlation between per capita GDP, and the proportion of GDP expended on healthcare, so you may be correct. It's worth noting that the US has much higher per capita GDP than most OECD countries.

In any case, the price inflation seen in highly regulated vs lightly unregulated markets is, to me, telling:

https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/chart-of-the-day-or-century-3...

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