In 2008 the US health care cost as a percent of GDP was approximately 16 percent, up from a mere 5 percent in 1960. That has since risen to about 18 percent. This means that the new health care plan, commonly referred to as ‘Obamacare’, that was passed by Congress was an excuse for the health insurance companies to raise rates. Balance this with what we were told when the administration was forcing the passage of this bill. The next closest country to the US is France and Belgium at approximately 11 percent. Consider that the UK is at 8.7 percent and Canada is 10.4 percent. Couple that with the highest corporate tax rate in the world and we wonder why manufacturing has gone elsewhere. This is worse because in the US the companies ‘have’ to pay for health insurance (another form of tax) where in other countries; it is built into their taxes. Just think how sick our population has to be in order to sustain such a large percentage of GDP. The US has a health care insurance system and government corruption that has run amok.
So, you would think that the US health care system would rank number one in the world because of the spending. The most recent data that I could find on rankings by country for health care quality was in 2000. I am sure there was pressure from the US to stop WHO from ranking. WHO ranked France as number one as you might expect since their spending as so high. However, the US was ranked at 37 – in between Dominica at 35, Costa Rica and Slovenia, Cuba at 39. Do not expect this to change when the priority for a former Secretary of HHS had ‘markets before mandates’ ranked as four and to ‘value life’ ranked last at nine. It “is the economy stupid” and it is more important than your health so do not depend on your government to give you the best advice for being well.
There are seventy-seven million ‘baby boomers’ that are currently retiring at the rate of more than ten thousand per day. As far as the government is concerned, the solution to reducing the debt burden is to have these folk die off. The quicker the better to keep the health care industry from deriving huge profits from illness as these folks are dying and driving our debt higher. If you eat well and get enough iodine, magnesium, sulfur, vitamin D, vitamin C, and potassium then you may be able to beat the system. Remember the rebellion of the youth in the sixties? Now the old timers, aka boomers, are going to be revolting about good nutrition. Have boomers who live healthy lives and helped their parents to stay alive become ‘enemies of the state’?
Reference:
http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html , http://www.kff.org/insurance/snapshot/OECD042111.cfm
Vitamin D Deficiency Survivor 
In 1960 the manufacturing percent of GDP was about 28. It is now about 12 percent of GDP. A large portion of that void was filled by the health insurance industry. I imagine, if you took away the health insurance industry, our healthcare percent of GDP would be under 10 percent. Unlike manufacturing, insurance does not generate wealth. Why should the effective rate for managing the money for health care be over forty percent? There is not that much risk as the government has given them a monopoly by state. Find the actual percent of your health care dollar that goes to the pharmaceutical industry and to health care providers and it will a shocking surprise. The eighty five percent return promised in Obamacare is after expenses of the insurance industry which could be anything they decide. My understanding is that it is about twenty five percent to medical providers and about fifteen percent to the pharmaceutical industry. This sounds like a standard business model at forty percent external cost, forty percent internal cost, and twenty percent gross margin before GSA, The real model should be like the rest of the world at about ten percent of GDP with twenty percent of that cost for managing the money. This would would leave eight percent of GDP for medical providers and pharma or about where it is now in the US.
Perot’s “great sucking sound” that he described as the destiny of the US has now turned into Poe’s “A Descent into the Maelstrom” – a definite need of renewal.
There are scores of books which agree
I really liked “Healing of America” by Reid
Compares 10 countries health care systems from about 20 points of view.