U.S. government spent more on health care in 2022 than six countries with universal health care combined
U.S. government spent more on health care in 2022 than six countries with universal health care combined
American taxpayers footed the bill for about 41% of the nearly $4.5 trillion in both public and private health care spending the U.S. recorded last year.
American taxpayers footed the bill for at least $1.8 trillion in federal and state health care expenditures in 2022 — about 41% of the nearly $4.5 trillion in both public and private health care spending the U.S. recorded last year, according to the annual report released last week by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
On top of that $1.8 trillion, third-party programs, which are often government-funded, and public health programs accounted for another $600 billion in spending.
This means the U.S. government spent more on health care last year than the governments of Germany, the U.K., Italy, Spain, Austria, and France combined spent to provide universal health care coverage to the whole of their population (335 million in total), which is comparable in size to the U.S. population of 331 million.
Between direct public spending and compulsory, tax-driven insurance programs, Germany spent about $380 billion in health care in 2022; France spent around $300 billion, and so did the U.K.; Italy, $147 billion; Spain, $105 billion; and Austria, $43 billion. The total, $1.2 trillion, is about two-thirds of what the U.S. government spent without offering all of its citizens the option of forgoing private insurance.
People talking about dismantling the military to pay for health care distract themselves from the fact that the health care system already holds all the money that is needed for single payer health-care. Which is what the people making money off this system want. They want people to blame the military, because that doesn't solve shit.
I feel vindicated. Not 15 days ago I complained about paying more in taxes AND health insurance. And I’ve been saying it for over a decade. Fuck private healthcare, it serves no purpose for the people.
How timely! American here who just received a bill for scoping my sinuses by an ENT specialist: insurance covered $28 out of the $415 procedure. This is on top of the $70 copay I owe for the $195 office visit. So all accounting factored in, I owe $450 for what I thought was going to be $70.
Because it was billed through insurance, the provider's hands are tied in terms of further negotiation. I would bet if I had gone in as a cash patient, I'd be much better off.
The icing on the cake is that the scoping procedure was non-conclusive.
The US healthcare insurance system is the ultimate way to make money fast, for little effort. As long as you're on the right side of it, that is.
I work with companies in the health care space globally. The percentage of their profits that come from the US business versus others is just astonishing.
When you do a half assed public insurance option, you get a shitty result - terrible care, at quadruple the price. We need true single payer and more importantly, single system costs negotiator.
Those mega yachts and Hawaiian bunkers aren’t gonna pay for themselves!
The American "Healthcare" system is a money-making venture, first and foremost. Health care is simply the structure the corporations use to wring as much money from the masses as possible.
I saw a commercial for healthcare.gov. It talked about how people only paid a few bucks for healthcare. It was all after government assistance.
The fact that you need heavy government assistance to get healthcare shows how much of a failure things are here.
Also in Mexico they have legal price limits on drugs. They're printed on the box so you know if you're getting a deal or paying the max. Also can see a doctor for like 40 pesos (about 2 to 3 USD). It's much cheaper than my post insurance copay. I understand it's a different market, but they have better general healthcare than the US.
Also as a side note, most drugs don't need a prescription. You can tell the pharmacist what hurts and they can tell you what should help (or when to see a Dr). If I want to see my Dr, I'm on hold for 20 minutes then get an appointment in 2 weeks. Once again: viva Mexico!
“That’s terrible! That’s money that should be going towards the military!”
what's fun is for all this extra money we get a lower (and dropping) life expectancy and a higher infant mortality rate. that's right, we pay more to bury our kids and then die sooner. FREEDOM BAYBAY!
It has always been known that more money could be saved with Universal health care. But, this couldn't be done in Congress. Nothing new here.
The insurance companies want their cut
Lol, the US spent more because health care in the US costs more. The six other countries spent less because health care costs less. This is not a win
This is a useless metric, the US has more population than all of those countries combined and the healthcare costs in Europe are about half of what they are in the US. This article is reaching towards a conclusion, not really objectively coming to it, although it's not surprising considering the source.
United States 340M (Not 331M)
- Germany 83M
- UK 68M
- Italy 59M
- Spain 48M
- Austria 9M
- France 65M
~ 332M (Not 335M)
- Population source : https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-country/
- Healthcare cost source : https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries/#GDP per capita and health consumption spending per capita, 2021 (U.S. dollars, PPP adjusted)
(Just the first few results where this information could be looked up, no other criteria applied for these sources)
Guess people just don't like facts.
Just a quick mote: That is great and all, but the US has more people than a large part of Europe…combined The whole of the US has a population of around 337 million, the entirety of the EU is 461 million.
If you aren’t just trying to drop this as a random fact and are instead pushing for universal healthcare in the US, might I suggest looking at something more meaningful, such as cost per covered person.
Numbers also don’t scale linearly with covered persons due to inefficiencies, so that is something to think about as well. Quality of care is also a consideration. If i need an optional surgery here in the US I can typically get in within 2-6 weeks for the surgery. In some countries it can take months.
sigh the healthcare debate is so much more complex than people realize. I am pro universal healthcare, btw.
If we adopted universal healthcare tomorrow without consideration of the issues, the worldwide economy would take a massive hit. Insurers and private healthcare companies invest dollars worldwide in many different industries.