Some recent charts on US health care that I've come across.... Increasingly our health care system looks like a large, creaking edifice made of wood, cracking and splitting all over the place, with the people inside working harder than ever nailing up boards everywhere they can, while politicians argue about the shape of the building and if we even need a building. Everyone knows the whole thing can't go much higher, and yet it seems that nothing notable will be done until the whole thing comes crashing down.
Oh, yeah: and one-sixth of the people aren't even allowed to go into the building.
Premiums
doubled in the last ten years, to $13,375 for a family. Does anyone expect them to not double again in the next ten years? Can
any employer afford $27,000/yr to insure a family of four?
Via
Andrew Sullivan:
Via
Andrew Sullivan:
Via
Andrew Sullivan:
Via
Ezra Klein:
Next two from the
Kaiser Family Foundation:
1 comment:
Agreed,
US health care is expensive because there is no incentive to save money. A lot of blank checks out there (e.g. medicare).
Another problem is the gov/corp corruption that you have pointed to.
"How to get a federal health-care waiver (Hint: it involves former government health-policy officials)"
By: Timothy P. Carney 06/13/11 10:21 AM
Senior Political Columnist Follow Him @TPCarney
This filing just came across the old Lobbying Disclosure Act Database:
Client: State of Oregon
Lobbying Firm: Alston & Bird
Issue: "Assisting the State of Oregon to obtain a waiver for the states Medicaid program."
Lobbyists: Thomas Scully, former administrator of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services; and Stephanie Kennan, former health-policy director for Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
Now, this is about a Medicaid waiver, not an ObamaCare waiver, but the same dynamic is at play: Congress imposes mandates on other entities, but gives bureaucrats the power to waive those mandates. To get such a waiver, you hire the people who used to administer or who helped craft the policies.
So who's the net winner? The politicians and bureaucrats who craft policies and wield power, because this combination of massive government power and wide bureaucratic discretion creates huge demand for revolving-door lobbyists.
It's another reason Obama's legislative agenda, including bailouts, stimulus, ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank, tobacco regulation, and more, necessarily fosters more corruption and cronyism.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/06/how-get-federal-health-care-waiver-hint-it-involves-former-govern#ixzz1PHXxBZNB
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