Many Americans are scared of universal healthcare because they are convinced their costs might go up even more. In fact, we could expect prices to drop quite a bit. Why is that?
When a country has universal healthcare suddenly every person has an interest in restraining costs and encouraging better public health. Since everyone is on the hook for paying when healthcare costs go up, a society is motivated to reduce obesity and encourage healthier diets and exercise. If we all had a stake in a universal system the current incentive structure would get flipped. Whereas now hospitals and insurance companies prefer extravagant invasive procedures over preventive healthcare, if we all had a stake in reducing costs the cheaper alternatives become much more attractive. This ultimately leads to a healthier population and results in longer life expectancies, for less cost.
Writer T. R. Reid makes another profound point in his book The Healing of America. As part of his research he travelled the globe to see the healthcare systems of different nations up close. He even asked doctors in each of these countries to examine a persistent shoulder problem he was having so he could compare the different treatments they suggested. As he globetrotted around he asked health officials in these different countries the same question: How many people here go bankrupt because of medical bills? “In Britain, zero. In France, zero. In Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland: zero. In the United States… the annual figure is around 700,000.” If you only knew that one statistic, would that be enough to convince you we’re doing something wrong here in the US? Medical bankruptcies are responsible for close to half of all American bankruptcies. Even outside of the public health question – if we could cut the number of US bankruptcies in half by moving to universal healthcare, doesn’t it make sense from a purely economic standpoint?
In 1950 healthcare made up 4 percent of US GDP… we’re at the threshold of a five-fold increase since then. Those numbers might give insurance company executives spontaneous erections but they are very bad for the American public. If switching to a universal healthcare system made it possible for the US to get better outcomes for less money – who wouldn’t take that deal? Every other advanced industrial nation has universal healthcare and pays less than us. It is reasonable to conclude that’s what would happen here. That’s why other countries have universal healthcare. It’s near impossible to control costs otherwise.
This isn’t pure conjecture. An organization called Physicians for a National Health Program put together a proposal for an American single-payer system, sometimes known as Medicare-for-all, that would provide coverage for everyone and cost significantly less than our current for-profit system. Think about it this way: Every dollar in our system that becomes a stock dividend or an extravagant executive salary bonus is a dollar not spent keeping Americans healthy. Naturally, if providing healthcare for everyone at the lowest possible cost were the goal rather than padding the profits of pharmaceutical companies, public health will improve in this country. It’s a question of goals and incentives. It’s time to ask why we’re holding on to an inefficient healthcare system that does not put public health first. It’s time to ask which is worth more: Your health or their profits?
This is part 4 in a series...
You can find PART ONE HERE.
You can find PART TWO HERE.
You can find PART THREE HERE.
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