One of the fear factors in health care reform is cost. We already have an expensive system, and there is a legitimate concern that covering millions of additional people will greatly increase costs. Without significant change, this is true. As I discussed in an earlier post, as a country, we need to ask some challenging questions and build a system that tackles those issues. One such question is: “How much should we spend on health care?”
Just in time for this post, the Organization for Economic Development released their latest information on health care costs in each of the 34 OECD countries. It is no surprise that U.S. health care spending outstrips all other countries significantly.
According to the OECD, we spend $7,960 per person per year for health care in the U.S., totaling about $2.5 trillion. In comparison, the average OECD country spends $3,233 per person annually for health care. (In case you don’t know which countries are included in the OECD, they are mostly places you would be happy visiting.) If we could achieve average spending, the U.S. would save $1.5 trillion a year in health care costs.
The U.S. Government currently covers 46% of U.S. health care expenditures, which means taxpayers foot the bill for $1.13 trillion of health care spending. In other words, taxpayers already pay $3,660 per person of the $7,960 annual bill for health care. This alone is higher than the OECD average of $3,233 per person. If total U.S. spending for all health care could match the OECD average, we would save taxpayers $672 billion a year. Wasn’t the recent goal for Congress to cut $1 trillion a year? The “super committee” will not have to work so hard next time.
Do we want to be “average” in spending? Is the world’s most expensive system effective? Spending big buckets of money has not made us healthier. According to World Health Organization data, the U.S. ranks near the bottom third in mortality from disease and injury for the OECD countries. We rank 27th in life expectancy. It’s tough to argue that astronomical spending has made us healthier.
The problems we have in health care are glaring, and politicians appear reluctant to address them. They must tread carefully to avoid upsetting big donors, special interests or factions of the political parties, making it very difficult to listen or respond to the average citizen. Politics seem more like a Hollywood script.
I recently spent two hours on a plane seated next to Mitt Romney, entirely by chance. Not being in the political system, I wanted to share my views on how to start improving our health care system and save billions of dollars. I did this in less than two minutes, so as not to annoy him. I appreciate that running for office is a very difficult job. Although pleasant, Mr. Romney would not have passed my bedside manner class in medical residency. What I tried (unsuccessfully) to share with Mr. Romney was the notion that, instead of building bigger, more complex systems, we can fix the egregious parts of the existing structure first.
We are an innovative country. Can we achieve above average health with average spending? If there are ways to improve our health and spend less money, shouldn’t we do it? Our billing and medical records systems are tops on the list, and overhauling these two areas could make our health care simpler and better. I’ll address this in upcoming posts, along with how the health care reform law deals with these issues as it currently stands. Small, concrete steps work best toward reaching grand goals.
I appreciate your input on how we can encourage the country to take a better path. In addition to this blog, you can reach me on Twitter @CarolynMcC. Let’s make this a great conversation.