Our Health Care System is Broken

8 Things About The Conscience of a Liberal #7
What I Learned from Paul Krugman's The Conscience of a Liberal

The moral case for universal health care isn't in dispute.

They tell us everything is OK. They tell us that we have the best health care system in the world. Certainly, as Americans, we love to believe we are the best at everything. With health care, the facts don't support the boast.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), we spend more money on every individual than any country in the western world. Despite this, we have the shortest life expectancy among the same group. The WHO would only rank us as having the 37th best health care system in the world. It should be a national embarrassment.

We're off the charts in terms of what we pay for care, but only in the middle of the pack in terms of what we actually get for the money.

The essential problem with the system is this: Insurance companies make more money for not paying claims. They spend a lot of money screening everyone who applies for insurance to weed out those that are health risks. For those that make it through the screening, they do everything they possibly can (like searching for any preexisting conditions) to avoid paying claims. The problem isn't necessarily the companies themselves; any company that didn't screen this way wouldn't survive. The problem is the system which necessitates it.

(The insurance companies) aren't evil, however, the consequences are.

The system we have is simply too inefficient to function. Doctors and insurance companies spend millions battling over whether a claim should be paid. Every individual insurance company has to bargain on their own with the pharmaceutical companies so they don't get economy of scale on their drugs. (We prescribe fewer drugs than anyone in the US, yet we pay more.) There is no incentive for insurance companies to provide preventive care. Is it any wonder that 31% of all our spending on health care are for administrative costs? (In Canada, the number is just 17%.)

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We are in crisis. Not only is our system inefficient, fewer and fewer companies are insuring their employees because of the rising cost of providing insurance. Paying out of pocket isn't a reasonable option for the vast majority of American workers. (An employee working at the median annual wage would need to devote 25% of their earnings towards purchasing a family health care policy.) There is a solution. That solution is government supplied universal health care insurance. Not only would it be cheaper and more efficient than the current system, it would be the moral solution that makes sure that no one in this country is left without access to a doctor.