Global Economic Intersection
Advertisement
  • Home
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • Investments
    • Invest in Amazon $250
  • Cryptocurrency
    • Best Bitcoin Accounts
    • Bitcoin Robot
      • Quantum AI
      • Bitcoin Era
      • Bitcoin Aussie System
      • Bitcoin Profit
      • Bitcoin Code
      • eKrona Cryptocurrency
      • Bitcoin Up
      • Bitcoin Prime
      • Yuan Pay Group
      • Immediate Profit
      • BitQH
      • Bitcoin Loophole
      • Crypto Boom
      • Bitcoin Treasure
      • Bitcoin Lucro
      • Bitcoin System
      • Oil Profit
      • The News Spy
      • Bitcoin Buyer
      • Bitcoin Inform
      • Immediate Edge
      • Bitcoin Evolution
      • Cryptohopper
      • Ethereum Trader
      • BitQL
      • Quantum Code
      • Bitcoin Revolution
      • British Trade Platform
      • British Bitcoin Profit
    • Bitcoin Reddit
    • Celebrities
      • Dr. Chris Brown Bitcoin
      • Teeka Tiwari Bitcoin
      • Russell Brand Bitcoin
      • Holly Willoughby Bitcoin
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • Investments
    • Invest in Amazon $250
  • Cryptocurrency
    • Best Bitcoin Accounts
    • Bitcoin Robot
      • Quantum AI
      • Bitcoin Era
      • Bitcoin Aussie System
      • Bitcoin Profit
      • Bitcoin Code
      • eKrona Cryptocurrency
      • Bitcoin Up
      • Bitcoin Prime
      • Yuan Pay Group
      • Immediate Profit
      • BitQH
      • Bitcoin Loophole
      • Crypto Boom
      • Bitcoin Treasure
      • Bitcoin Lucro
      • Bitcoin System
      • Oil Profit
      • The News Spy
      • Bitcoin Buyer
      • Bitcoin Inform
      • Immediate Edge
      • Bitcoin Evolution
      • Cryptohopper
      • Ethereum Trader
      • BitQL
      • Quantum Code
      • Bitcoin Revolution
      • British Trade Platform
      • British Bitcoin Profit
    • Bitcoin Reddit
    • Celebrities
      • Dr. Chris Brown Bitcoin
      • Teeka Tiwari Bitcoin
      • Russell Brand Bitcoin
      • Holly Willoughby Bitcoin
No Result
View All Result
Global Economic Intersection
No Result
View All Result

The Problem With Obamacare Is That It Did Little To Reduce Overall Healthcare Spending

admin by admin
December 10, 2016
in Uncategorized
0
0
SHARES
3
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship

Written by Steven Hansen

I was opposed to Obamacare when I read the actual legislation before it was passed by Congress. My concern was that it was not designed to reduce overall health care expenditures – it only redistributed costs between the insured.

Obamacare was analogous to rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship. Yes, the deck chairs were not in the right place but the priority was stopping the ship from sinking. The health care system in the USA costs too much while providing too little. The poor delivery situation is apparent from the below graph from USA, Inc (slide 111).

And on Thursday this week, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) released the USA’s mortality data for 2015, and in summary:

  • Life expectancy for the U.S. population in 2015 was 78.8 years, a decrease of 0.1 year from 2014.
  • The age-adjusted death rate increased 1.2% from 724.6 deaths per 100,000 standard population in 2014 to 733.1 in 2015.
  • The 10 leading causes of death in 2015 remained the same as in 2014. Age-adjusted death rates increased for eight leading causes and decreased for one.
  • The infant mortality rate of 589.5 infant deaths per 100,000 live births in 2015 was not significantly different from the 2014 rate.
  • The 10 leading causes of infant death in 2015 remained the same as in 2014, although two causes exchanged ranks.

The USA health care ship is sinking with life expectancy falling – yah just cannot say with a straight face that the USA has the best system in the world.

Obamacare simply rearranged who paid the costs. The ill and the older worker paid less – and the new young wage earner was going to do the heavy lifting. Note the young historically drove consumer spending – but have been burdened not only with university debt and now Obamacare health care costs. Education 40 years ago was mostly was funded by state and local governments.

In any event, Obamacare promised lower costs. President Obama stated on 16 July 2012:

You should know that once we have fully implemented [Obamacare], you’re going to be able to buy insurance through a pool so that you can get the same good rates as a group that if you’re an employee at a big company you can get right now — which means your premiums will go down. 

Obamacare mostly went into affect 01 January 2014. Are we seeing lower costs?

The problem with the FRED health care expenditure graph above is that it includes many programs not associated with Obamacare such as medicare, medicaid, veterans health, etc. We know that the USA has more old people than any past period – and these old people cost more to maintain their health. But the USA population under 65 has little changed over the last 5 years.

The above graph only includes insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for those UNDER 65. With specificity – this is the increase in costs ABOVE INFLATION seen by the working age population. Obamacare did not reduce health care costs spent by the average working age Joe, and the projections for 2016 say there will be an even bigger increase.

Stop the ship sinking

Before going on, let me state that I am not against socialized medicine. I have lived the majority of my life successfully using using the socialized medical systems in other countries. I am against rearranging deck chairs when the ship is sinking. The USA system works well for those who can afford ever increasing health care costs – but half the population has seen no real change in their income in many years – and cannot afford an increase in medical care costs.

A good companion post to read is Fixing Obamacare – Why It Won’t Be Easy penned by Elliot Morss which concludes in part:

Obamacare is not the problem. Instead, it is the underlying demographics, unhealthy American life styles resulting in the most overweight and obese population in the world (except for a few South Pacific islands), manpower imbalances, and oligopolistic practices causing the growth in US health care costs.

I am not in the mood to be promised more affordable health care when costs actually go up – and that is the significant problem with Obamacare.

Other Economic News this Week:

The Econintersect Economic Index for December 2016 improved but still with the economic outlook for weak growth. The index remains near the lowest value since the end of the Great Recession. This month there are no recession warning flags. Six-month employment growth forecast indicates minor improvement in the rate of growth.

Bankruptcies this Week from bankruptcydata.com: Privately-held La Paloma Generating Company

Weekly Economic Release Scorecard:

Previous Post

Most Women Inventors Come From America

Next Post

Free Autographed Copies Of Frank Li’s New Book Available – If You Act Fast

Related Posts

Lab-Grown Meat Draws Closer To American Dinner Plates
Business

Lab-Grown Meat Draws Closer To American Dinner Plates

by John Wanguba
January 26, 2023
New Suppliers Scramble To Plug Into Electric Vehicle Market
Business

New Suppliers Scramble To Plug Into Electric Vehicle Market

by John Wanguba
January 26, 2023
Coinbase Fined $3.6 Million In The Netherlands
Business

Coinbase Fined $3.6 Million In The Netherlands

by John Wanguba
January 26, 2023
Consumer Reports Encourage Dark Chocolate Producers To Minimize Lead, Cadmium Levels
Business

Consumer Reports Encourage Dark Chocolate Producers To Minimize Lead, Cadmium Levels

by John Wanguba
January 26, 2023
Bloomberg To Pay $5M Fine To Settle SEC Charges Linked To Fixed-Income Valuations
Business

Bloomberg To Pay $5M Fine To Settle SEC Charges Linked To Fixed-Income Valuations

by John Wanguba
January 26, 2023
Next Post

Free Autographed Copies Of Frank Li's New Book Available - If You Act Fast

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Browse by Category

  • Business
  • Econ Intersect News
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • Uncategorized

Browse by Tags

adoption altcoins banking banks Binance Bitcoin Bitcoin adoption Bitcoin market Bitcoin mining blockchain BTC business China crypto crypto adoption cryptocurrency crypto exchange crypto market crypto regulation decentralized finance DeFi Elon Musk ETH Ethereum Europe finance FTX inflation investment market analysis markets Metaverse mining NFT nonfungible tokens oil market price analysis recession regulation Russia technology Tesla the UK the US Twitter

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • August 2010
  • August 2009

Categories

  • Business
  • Econ Intersect News
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • Uncategorized
Global Economic Intersection

After nearly 11 years of 24/7/365 operation, Global Economic Intersection co-founders Steven Hansen and John Lounsbury are retiring. The new owner, a global media company in London, is in the process of completing the set-up of Global Economic Intersection files in their system and publishing platform. The official website ownership transfer took place on 24 August.

Categories

  • Business
  • Econ Intersect News
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • Uncategorized

Recent Posts

  • Lab-Grown Meat Draws Closer To American Dinner Plates
  • New Suppliers Scramble To Plug Into Electric Vehicle Market
  • Coinbase Fined $3.6 Million In The Netherlands

© Copyright 2021 EconIntersect - Economic news, analysis and opinion.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Bitcoin Robot
    • Bitcoin Profit
    • Bitcoin Code
    • Quantum AI
    • eKrona Cryptocurrency
    • Bitcoin Up
    • Bitcoin Prime
    • Yuan Pay Group
    • Immediate Profit
    • BitIQ
    • Bitcoin Loophole
    • Crypto Boom
    • Bitcoin Era
    • Bitcoin Treasure
    • Bitcoin Lucro
    • Bitcoin System
    • Oil Profit
    • The News Spy
    • British Bitcoin Profit
    • Bitcoin Trader
  • Bitcoin Reddit

© Copyright 2021 EconIntersect - Economic news, analysis and opinion.

en English
ar Arabicbg Bulgarianda Danishnl Dutchen Englishfi Finnishfr Frenchde Germanel Greekit Italianja Japaneselv Latvianno Norwegianpl Polishpt Portuguesero Romanianes Spanishsv Swedish