The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) just released their paper on health care costs for 2009. You can download a handy PDF summary. This material should be required reading for anyone asking “How will we pay for universal health insurance under Obama’s health care proposal?”
The real question is “How can we continue to afford paying more of our Gross Domestic Product than any other industrialized country?” Consider these points about the 30 member countries of the OECD:
- On average countries spend 8.9% of GDP on healthcare
- The US spends 16.0% of GDP on healthcare
- Second place spender France spends 11.0% of GDP
- Among the European Union countries Ireland spends the least, at 7.6% – less then one half the US level
All of the other countries have a form of single payer. All spend significantly less of the GDP than the US. Most have better health (measured by infant mortality and expected lifespand) than the US.
We’re paying more for worse care. How can we afford to keep doing what we’ve been doing?
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