Re: request for data: health care + taxes

Kevrob wrote:
Damien Sullivan wrote:

The US is said to have less of its GDP taken in taxes than most other
First World countries. The US is also said to spend more of its GDP on
health care than any country, and a lot of that is private, not public.
Does anyone have pointers to combined data?



For comparative %s of GDP consumed by govt. spending,
try here:

http://images.forbes.com/media/2006/05/Overall_Tax_Burden_Governemt_Spending.pdf

The data is from the OECD



E.g. imagine the US has a tax rate of .......% GDP


Be careful of comparisons that do not take into account spending
by local and regional (states, provinces, lander) government, and
only report what the national government pays.


and health spending of 15% GDP, entirely private,


As you note below, a good chunk of that 15% comes from
govermental sources.


so taxes + health = 48%. Imagine Sweden has a
tax rate of 45% and 10% GDP health spending, entirely from the public
45%. Sweden would come out ahead (especially since they live longer.)

But I made up those numbers (though I think they're not far off) and the
US does have Medicare and Medicaid and Veteran's Affairs and county
hospitals, and I have no idea how those compare to the money spent on
private employer health plans. (Though of course "the Emergency Room
can't turn you away if you're really sick" is a rather inefficient form
of socialized medicine.)



ERs at privately run non-profit and for profit hospitals
have to treat indigents. Even when Medicare and/or Medicaid
reimburse them, it is at rather stingy rates.

Kevin

Aren't we are getting a bit OT here?

No Kevin, ER's have to STABILIZE people with acute problems - that's all, and, in most areas, if you go to the ER without active bleeding or chest pains, it can be 10-20 hours before you are seen, NO ONE goes to the ER unless they are desperate. I sat in the ER a few months ago with a young woman (daughter of a friend going to school in this area) who had what turned out to be an ovarian cyst. She was doubled over in pain for over 5 hours before she was seen. Student Health (same school as the ER) had sent her to the ER after determining it was beyond them. A few years ago, another hospital took over 6 hours to get around to treating the director of the certifying agency's heart attack. THAT one got some attention. They were on probation for a LONG time.

As to spending on health care, the FEDERAL spending in the US is better than twice the per capita amount of any developed country, despite the fact that US federal spending only covers government employees, indian on reservations, veterans, Medicare, a tiny tiny amount under IDEA, and a small portion of Medicaid. while most countries provide total health care for all at the federal level.

Then there is the television generated myth that the US has something called "county hospitals" which provide free care. SOME counties have hospitals, and a few have some type of free care (usually very limited if at all), but a system?? not on your life. Just because some areas have a hospital which it calls "County" can not be generalized any more than assuming that because they are called "Hospitals" that there is a complete national network of medical facilities operated for free by a group of Catholic Knights.

"County General", when it exists, is usually a PRIVATE hospital, which is not operated by a religious group (else it would be Beth Israel or St Agnes, or Mercy) or a school ( and it would be "University" or "Baylor" or "Hopkins"), and isn't in the NEXT county. That is often a marketing ploy. The hospital where my youngest went to school called itself "Kent and Queen Anne's". It was in Kent County, and actually it's market area was much of the upper shore, but they put Queen Anne's in the name in the hopes that people in Queen Anne county wouldn't go south to Easton for medical care, but north to Chestertown. The Hospital in Easton is called "Memorial" (nothing says to who) and, ITS branch in Cambridge (further south)is called "Dorchester Hospital", which is the name of the county Cambridge is in.
.

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