For a long time I’ve railed that politicos and pundits confuse “healthcare” with “health insurance” – trying to fix health insurance (by throwing money at it) … rather than getting to the efficacy and efficiency roots of healthcare delivery.
Here’s another twist to the story.
I stumbled on a report from the Kaiser Foundation: Beyond Health Care: The Role of Social Determinants.
It’s punch line:
“Though health care is essential to health, research demonstrates that it is a relatively weak health determinant.”
More specifically, Kaiser concludes that healthcare has only about a 10% impact on the risk of premature death … dwarfed by genetics (30%) and individual behavior (40%).
Said differently, health behaviors, such as smoking and diet and exercise, are the most important determinants of premature death
And, as the title of the article’s title suggest, there’s a social component (20%) that’s double the impact of healthcare per se …
The Homa Files 