Unlike ill-informed Ezra Klein, our friend Avik Roy actually knows what he's talking about when it comes to health care. And he's at his best when he brings to light issues and facts that no one else seems to have glommed on to (yet). For example, his latest:
"The US Government Spends More Per Capita On Health Care Than Almost Every Other Country"
This is a distinction I've not seen anywhere else, and it's an important one. Although we've log-debunked the canard that the US spends more on health care and gets worse results, Avik points out that the US government itself is a major spender that exacerbates an eminently-solvable problem. And he starts with shredding misconceptions from both sides of the political spectrum:
"Both liberals and conservatives believe that the American system is a "free-market" or "capitalistic" one, and that European systems providing universal coverage are "socialized" ... both of these conceptions go wrong."
By isolating and identifying how the *government* skews the numbers, Avik provides a real service for those of us seeking to find real-world solutions. And he makes an important point about those Medicare For All folks:
"The thing to remember in America is that we have single-payer health care for the elderly and for the poor: the two costliest groups." Avik goes on to compare and contrast some of the world's other health care systems. I don't necessarily agree with all of his conclusions, but his is an intellectually honesty discussion. By all means, Read the Whole Thing.
"The US Government Spends More Per Capita On Health Care Than Almost Every Other Country"
This is a distinction I've not seen anywhere else, and it's an important one. Although we've log-debunked the canard that the US spends more on health care and gets worse results, Avik points out that the US government itself is a major spender that exacerbates an eminently-solvable problem. And he starts with shredding misconceptions from both sides of the political spectrum:
"Both liberals and conservatives believe that the American system is a "free-market" or "capitalistic" one, and that European systems providing universal coverage are "socialized" ... both of these conceptions go wrong."
By isolating and identifying how the *government* skews the numbers, Avik provides a real service for those of us seeking to find real-world solutions. And he makes an important point about those Medicare For All folks:
"The thing to remember in America is that we have single-payer health care for the elderly and for the poor: the two costliest groups." Avik goes on to compare and contrast some of the world's other health care systems. I don't necessarily agree with all of his conclusions, but his is an intellectually honesty discussion. By all means, Read the Whole Thing.
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