Improving the prognosis of health care in the USA

Authored by sciencedirect.com and submitted by gengarvibes

Although health care expenditure per capita is higher in the USA than in any other country, more than 37 million Americans do not have health insurance, and 41 million more have inadequate access to care. Efforts are ongoing to repeal the Affordable Care Act which would exacerbate health-care inequities. By contrast, a universal system, such as that proposed in the Medicare for All Act, has the potential to transform the availability and efficiency of American health-care services. Taking into account both the costs of coverage expansion and the savings that would be achieved through the Medicare for All Act, we calculate that a single-payer, universal health-care system is likely to lead to a 13% savings in national health-care expenditure, equivalent to more than US$450 billion annually (based on the value of the US$ in 2017). The entire system could be funded with less financial outlay than is incurred by employers and households paying for health-care premiums combined with existing government allocations. This shift to single-payer health care would provide the greatest relief to lower-income households. Furthermore, we estimate that ensuring health-care access for all Americans would save more than 68 000 lives and 1ยท73 million life-years every year compared with the status quo.

reaganAtl on February 15th, 2020 at 16:54 UTC »

Before the 1970s insurance ran as not for profit. Since lobbing to become for profit there has been one of the biggest transfers of wealth from the middle class. Think about that and remember when it was legal to drive without car insurance? And since ACA people are fined for not having health insurance.

Bobbers8 on February 15th, 2020 at 15:09 UTC »

Is it possible to read this behind the paywall?

evilpercy on February 15th, 2020 at 14:47 UTC »

How likely are you to start your own business and follow the "American dream" if you and your family were covered for health care not depended on your job?