American Health Care: less for more
A not-so-surprising report in the New York Times highlights the fact that America spends more per capita than any other country on the planet on health care, for worse outcomes.
According to these statistics, my peers born in 1952 have just over seven years left to enjoy life in the US of A. What kind of life many will have in their final, not-so-golden, years depends on how much they can afford to spend on elder care. The Times report notes:
The main reason that U.S. health spending is so high is not that Americans are sicker than people elsewhere or are heavier users of medical care (although both those factors play a role). The main reason is that almost every form of care in the U.S. costs more: doctor’s visits, hospital stays, drug prescriptions, surgeries and more. The American health care system maximizes the profits of health care companies at the expense of families’ budgets.
A poignant example of the health care industry in the States putting profits over people is the prices charged by long-term assisted living care homes for the elderly.
These facilities can be highly profitable. “Half of operators in the business of assisted living earn returns of 20 percent or more than it costs to run the sites, an industry survey shows,” Jordan Rau, a reporter for KFF, writes. “That is far higher than the money made in most other health sectors.”
Many facilities, Jordan explains, “charge $5,000 a month or more and then layer on extra fees at every step. Residents’ bills and price lists from a dozen facilities offer a glimpse of the charges: $12 for a blood pressure check; $50 per injection (more for insulin); $93 a month to order medications from a pharmacy not used by the facility; $315 a month for daily help with an inhaler.”
The Times lays the blame squarely on the American free market economy and lack of regulation. The situation has worsened since the 1980s “That decade also happens to be when the U.S. began moving more toward a laissez-faire economy.”
I can only hope that my own life expectancy will permit me to be around for longer than seven more years. Since both my parents lived into their late nineties I hope so. If only I can afford it.
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