Ken’s Take: First time I’ve heard this contrarian point-of-view. It got me thinking …
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Excerpted from WSJ, We Don’t Spend Enough on Health Care, Aug 16, 2009
The basic material needs of human beings are food, clothing and shelter.
The desire for food and clothing drove hunter-gatherer economies and, subsequently, agricultural economies, for millennia.
The Industrial Revolution was driven by the desire for clothing.
The desire for shelter was a major driver of the U.S. economy during the second half of the 20th century and the first several years of the 21st. About one-third of the new jobs created during the latter period were directly or indirectly related to housing,
Once these material needs are substantially met, desire for health care — without which there can be no enjoyment of food, clothing or shelter—becomes a significant, perhaps a principal, driver of the economy.
The health-care industry is a resilient driver of the general economy. Health-care now accounts for 10.4% of nonfarm employment.
The $2.4 trillion Americans spend each year for health care doesn’t go up in smoke. It’s paid to other Americans.
So, the U.S. health-care economy should be viewed not as a burden but as an engine of growth.
The administration’s health-care plan is biased toward bean-counting rather than designed to maximize American physical and mental well-being.
We need to ask ourselves whether there is truly anything more valuable to us than our loved ones and our own health and longevity.
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Full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204409904574350810610869756.html
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The Homa Files 
August 18, 2009 at 1:13 am |
Obama’s biggest problem isn’t that his plan will blow a hole in the budget. His biggest problem was that he claimed his plan was deficit neutral and was undermined by the Congressional Budget Office. If he had never made that commitment to deficit neutral plan, I think he would be far better off in the current debate.
August 19, 2009 at 3:50 pm |
What’s “ken’s take” on the article. I agree that it was a contrarian and thought provoking article. Any merit? Maybe this is our “new economy”
Anyway, the French are having issues with their healthcare right now… “only” spending 9% GDP, so there is some cost cutting going on with the the country claiming to have the best health care coverage.