Health Care Reform

We face a challenging problem in healthcare.  Here’s a review of the problem:

• Health care expenses in 1960 were about $150 per year per person and accounted for about 5% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 
• In 1986 health care expenses were more than 10% of GDP or nearly $2,000 per capita. 
• In 2009, we will spend over $8,100 per person or 17.6% of GDP – about $2.5 trillion on health care.
• Without significant change our spending on health care may double again to about $5 trillion in about 2020 which will be nearly $15,000 per capita accounting for 25% of GDP.
• Since 1980 health care expenses have increase about twice as fast as inflation each year (average annual CPI increase was 3.96% while average annual increase in health care expenses was 7.79%) (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005)

• No other country spends the amount we do on health care.  Compared to other countries, we are spending from 50% more to nearly three times more per capita for our healthcare. (California Health Foundation, 2008)
• For all we spend, our health in the US is mediocre at best and getting relatively worse.  For example, compared to other countries:
  • in 2006 the US ranked 31st in life expectancy, down from 23rd in 1990;
  • in 2006 the US ranked 39th in infant mortality, down from 27th in 1990;
  • in 2006 the US ranked 43rd in adult mortality, down from 39th in 1990. (World Health Organization, 2009)

 This might be a good time to contemplate that every system gets the results that it is designed to give.   These might not be the same results that the designers intended.  So, if you want the results that we’ve got over the last 20 or 40 years, then by all means, advocate for keeping this system in place or tweaking it a little.  Just be prepared to ante up big in the near future for mediocre results.

So what should be done to get different results? 

I welcome your thoughts and comments!

 …to be continued…