published by admin on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 21:22
This was originally posted on our website in 2010, but it is worth reminding ourselves that we are being overcharged for our healthcare. The Affordable Care Act begins to address this and that is one reason why the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects lower deficits over the next few years.
From National Geographic:
The United States spends more on medical care per person than any country, yet life expectancy is shorter than in most other developed nations and many developing ones. Lack of health insurance is a factor in life span and contributes to an estimated 45,000 deaths a year.
Why the high cost? The U.S. has a fee-for-service system—paying medical providers piecemeal for appointments, surgery, and the like. That can lead to unneeded treatment that doesn’t reliably improve a patient’s health. Says Gerard Anderson, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who studies health insurance worldwide, “More care does not necessarily mean better care.”