Healthy skepticism. [Spending on health care and on cars is about equal. Why is one bad and the other good]
- Thornton Pfleger Inc., Chicago, IL (United States)
The proportion of the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) spent on health care is cited as a crisis. But high spending on health care is no different from spending on any other consumer good. While increases in health spending are viewed with alarm, increased spending on private automobiles is considered a sign of an improving economy. Why is there no concern that the cost of private automobile ownership is destroying America's competitiveness. Because the person who chooses to buy or operate an automobile is the person who pays the bill. On the other hand the health care industry, of great economic importance, is dependent on an employment-based payment system that leads bussinesmen to fear loss of competitiveness. Attention to increasing labor productivity and solving the poverty problem would make the health care crisis disappear. American consumers generally are considered capable of selecting their own transportation options. To think that these same people are incapable of making decisions about their own bodies is paternalistic in the extreme.
- OSTI ID:
- 6149142
- Journal Information:
- Across the Board; (United States), Vol. 30:6; ISSN 0147-1554
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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