Friday, October 8, 2010

Off-topic: When did Health Care Become a Protected Racket in the U.S.?

My guess would be in the mid-60's.
There is something very wrong with this picture:
From the Incidental Economist:

Why it’s time to panic
Well, I’m just having too much fun with my new OECD data access.  I am trying to focus on getting the series on quality done.  But here’s something I just whipped up which goes back to costs:

What you are looking at is spending on health care as a percentage of GDP going back 30 years.  Lest you think I’m cherry picking, I’m showing you data from all 31 OECD countries.  It’s not hard to pick out the US line, is it?
We should spend more money than other countries.  We’re richer than them.  But should we be spending so much more of our GDP on health care?...MORE