Written by Steven Hansen When I read informed opinion on health care costs going up or going down, I visualize the scenes in the Exorcist (Linda Blair’s head rotating a complete 360 degrees or her pea soup hurling). It really depends on what data set you pull, how you view the data in that data set, …
Tag Archives: health care costs
US Health Care Costs – Why So High?
The US pays far more for health care than any other nation but gets less. On generally accepted indicators of health care quality, the US ranks at the bottom of the OECD country rankings.
The US Health Care System – What Really Needs Fixing
Despite the complexity of the new health care legislation, the fundamental US health care problem is simple; it pays too much for what it gets. This point is documented below along with ideas on how the problem might be remedied. The US spends more by far than any other OECD country on health care, and gets the lowest payoff.
Health Care and Obesity: A Global Dilemma
The health care cost of obesity is significant and obesity has become an epidemic in much of the developed world, with the U.S. leading the way. In the US, health reform has been debated in the process leading up to the passage of the Patient Protection and Afforable Health Care Act in 2010. But an expensive contributor to health care costs gets little attention: overweight and obese people. Two easy numbers to remember:
Two-thirds of Americans are overweight;
One-third are obese.
Beyond the US, there is a global obesity epidemic. And in the least developed nations, the number of obese children now exceeds the number underfed.