Woman gets 47 pound tumor removed thanks to.... Obamacare.

[MaxQue]

Even assuming your 45-50% figure of public US healthcare spending is correct, arguing that our huge share of GDP spent on medical care is due to that "high" % compared to most other industrialized countries that have a far higher % of healthcare costs paid publically is......."intriguing".

Please stop embarrassing other blue avatars by association.

Does anyone on this board look at data? The US Federal Government and several global organizations provide info free of charge. Our public healthcare spending as %GDP or PPP-adjusted-dollars is 3rd or 4th highest in the world, behind Luxembourg, Norway, and Netherlands (depending on the adjustment method).

US bureaucrats use a substantial portion of the $1T public healthcare budget to experiment on senior citizens (Medicare), and then pay for hospice care when the surgery goes awry (Medicaid). Why do you think the original ACA proposal tried to install a government oversight board to cut $500B from Medicare (10 years) by eliminating frivolous surgeries and medical procedures?

At least once a month, a major publication like NYT, WSJ, HuffPo or Washington Post will write an article about how public healthcare works. I suggest you start reading.

The issue is than all the countries than you praising, with lower healthcare costs, have a public healthcare system?

So, you want public healthcare in America?

[AggregateDemand]

The issue is than all the countries than you praising, with lower healthcare costs, have a public healthcare system?

So, you want public healthcare in America?

Conversion to public care or single payer is not the pertinent question. Do you think the federal government has the competence to administer single-payer or national healthcare? The obvious answer is "no".

The federal government can't administer the current public health insurance system, which only covers about 1/3 of the population. They spend 1/3 of the Medicare budget on ineffective surgical procedures on feeble seniors during the last year of life, and then they spend about 40% of the Medicaid budget to put them in hospice until they finally expire.

You can't understand the degree of incompetence within the public healthcare system unless you've lived through it or you've watched your family members deal with it. HHS can barely set up a healthcare exchange website.

[IceSpear]

The issue is than all the countries than you praising, with lower healthcare costs, have a public healthcare system?

So, you want public healthcare in America?

Conversion to public care or single payer is not the pertinent question. Do you think the federal government has the competence to administer single-payer or national healthcare? The obvious answer is "no".

The federal government can't administer the current public health insurance system, which only covers about 1/3 of the population. They spend 1/3 of the Medicare budget on ineffective surgical procedures on feeble seniors during the last year of life, and then they spend about 40% of the Medicaid budget to put them in hospice until they finally expire.

You can't understand the degree of incompetence within the public healthcare system unless you've lived through it or you've watched your family members deal with it. HHS can barely set up a healthcare exchange website.

So do you propose death panels as an alternative?

[Badger]

The issue is than all the countries than you praising, with lower healthcare costs, have a public healthcare system?

So, you want public healthcare in America?

Conversion to public care or single payer is not the pertinent question. Do you think the federal government has the competence to administer single-payer or national healthcare? The obvious answer is "no".

The federal government can't administer the current public health insurance system, which only covers about 1/3 of the population. They spend 1/3 of the Medicare budget on ineffective surgical procedures on feeble seniors during the last year of life, and then they spend about 40% of the Medicaid budget to put them in hospice until they finally expire.

You can't understand the degree of incompetence within the public healthcare system unless you've lived through it or you've watched your family members deal with it. HHS can barely set up a healthcare exchange website.

Which doesn't answer the question: If you claim public spending is the reason the US GDP% of healthcare costs are so high, why are other countries with a far higher public share of healthcare spending able to spend a notably smaller % of their GDP on healthcare.

I'm not advocating single payer or an American NHS; but you're the one who brought this claim up while ignoring the many obvious comparisons that contradict your argument.

[AggregateDemand]

Which doesn't answer the question: If you claim public spending is the reason the US GDP% of healthcare costs are so high, why are other countries with a far higher public share of healthcare spending able to spend a notably smaller % of their GDP on healthcare.

I'm not advocating single payer or an American NHS; but you're the one who brought this claim up while ignoring the many obvious comparisons that contradict your argument.

Their systems cost less money because they ration care, and they don't insure heavily against an inevitable outcome, like long-term care. They also don't give hospitals incentives to stabilize terminally ill people so they can be exported to hospice facilities.

[Badger]

Which doesn't answer the question: If you claim public spending is the reason the US GDP% of healthcare costs are so high, why are other countries with a far higher public share of healthcare spending able to spend a notably smaller % of their GDP on healthcare.

I'm not advocating single payer or an American NHS; but you're the one who brought this claim up while ignoring the many obvious comparisons that contradict your argument.

Their systems cost less money because they ration care, and they don't insure heavily against an inevitable outcome, like long-term care. They also don't give hospitals incentives to stabilize terminally ill people so they can be exported to hospice facilities.

Private insurers ration care everytime they deny claims or treatment, which is often (less so under Obamacare).