Reply #200: It's much worse than that... [View All]

[warren pease]

Here's numbers from the WHO's 2000 landmark study comparing the medical systems of 190 countries, updated for 2005. (It's alphabetical, so you need to scroll to the "U's.")

So four years ago, according to that update, it was $6,350 per capita. Latest WHO numbers I've seen put that figure at $6,719 per capita for 2006.

Here's more from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

They cite $6,401 per capita in 2005, a little higher than the WHO numbers, but you'll notice that per capita expenditures on public health are nearly half that total, or about $2,900.

So the US spends more per capita on public health than more than half (18, to be exact) the other OCED countries spend as total health care costs.

This funds health care for federal, state and local government employees. That includes programs such as the Federal Employees Health Plan and those for state and local employees as well; the Cadillac single-payer coverage our fine Representatives and Senators enjoy (and which they say we can't have); the cost of covering ER expenses for those without insurance; Medicare; and the costs of various state-run Medicaid programs.

So we're already paying for national health care; we're just not getting it.

This just in... Health and Human Services puts the 2007 per capita buy-in at $7,421.


sf



On edit: Added HHS numbers for 2007.