Monday, March 20, 2006

Health Care Expenditures as % of GDP


If I hear one more effing socialist say we don't spend enough on health care I will give them reason to wish the government would spend more on their health care personally.

4 comments:

  1. Agreed Brad, this expenditure could have had an effect on increasing live expectancy and standards of health, but Medicare is the unviersal health care program for old farts in the US. That being said, my main point wasn't the effectiveness of this money, but rather how the left will howl we don't spend anything on health care.

    Ty, I'll have to trust you. Never got sick in Canada.

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  2. "I just know Im happy to be in Canada, where if I 'think' I've broken something it doesnt cost me $1000 to find out I didnt. "

    Right, it costs your neighbor $1000 for you to find out you didn't.

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  3. Anonymous4:03 AM

    "I just know Im happy to be in Canada, where if I 'think' I've broken something it doesnt cost me $1000 to find out I didnt. "

    "Right, it costs your neighbor $1000 for you to find out you didn't."

    It costs your neighbor $1000 to find out your fine after you wait for 12 hours to see a doctor.

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  4. Thanks Derek -

    There are countless health-insurance providers that make a king's ransom insuring for catastrophic losses (and even relatively routine injuries/illnesses). Such is the beauty of aggregates & averages, and the law of large numbers. The insurance company cannot be certain which person will suffer a catastrophic illness/injury, but it can be reasonably certain that someone will.

    That being said, health insurance is not a public good, according to the typical definition, which would require non-excludability. My health insurance policy does not cover you, ergo, you are excluded, hence, it is not a public good.

    And so what about the people who willingly choose not to insure themselves? These people would be the very definition of "free-riders," i.e., those who don't want to pay for the benefit, but want to receive the benefit nonetheless.

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