I’ve wondered this for a long time. Are Germany, France, Great Britain, etc., only able to afford national healthcare because we subsidize their defense?
A quick look at a few statistics gives a clear answer. No.
Here’s per capita military spending by country.
Israel, $2,402
United States, $2,224
Singapore, $1,932
Saudi Arabia, $1,805
Kuwait, $1,738
Oman, $1,389
Norway, $1,320
Australia, $1,078
France, $978
Bahrain, $891
South Korea, $842
Brunei, $799
United Kingdom, $751
Denmark, $735
Luxembourg, $710
Germany doesn’t even make the top 15, but if we take France as an example, we spend $1,246 more per capita on defense than they do.
Then what about healthcare? If the theory were true, you would expect France to spend about that much more in per capita health care than we do. But it doesn’t work that way.
See How U.S. Healthcare Spending Per Capita Compares With Other Countries
United States, $10,586
Germany, $5,986
Sweden, $5,447
Canada, $4,974
France, $4,965
Japan, $4,766
U.K., $4,070
Italy, $3,428
Spain, $3,323
South Korea, $3,192
Russia, $1,514
Brazil, $1,282
Turkey, $1,227
South Africa, $1,072
India, $209
(I’m assuming these numbers are valid, that they’re comparing apples to apples, etc.. It’s entirely possible they’re incorrect. Healthcare and defense stats seem to be data that people are willing to misrepresent.)
Given these numbers, we spend more on defense and more on healthcare, which brings me to my second question.
Does the U.S. healthcare system, like the U.S. military, subsidize the rest of the world? IOW, we spend so much on defense that Germany doesn’t have to spend much at all. Is the same true with healthcare? Do we develop the drugs, procedures, equipment, expertise, etc. that the rest of the world relies on, allowing them to spend less?
I would love to hear an honest evaluation of that question.
Would love to see them break down how much we pay for Rx, equipment (like x-ray, MRI), middle men (processing, IT), health insurance companies’ cut, malpractice insurance, level of care. Probably France: looks like a scrape. Here’s some antibiotic lotion and a bandaid. Call us if it doesn’t get better. USA: looks like a scrape. Here’s some new anti-biotic lotion I heard about in my Pharma vendors trip to Jamaica. It’s only $200. Also, better order an MRI and x-ray just to be sure.
You have to wonder where the money is going.
The money is obviously going to the most benevolent of all people. Everything is humming along wonderfully. Americans are in the best of hands and have no reason to complain, as their country keeps getting greater and greater by the second.
Yes, it would be nice to know what’s really going on .
I have heard that most of the health care expense a person uses in his lifetime is at the end of his life. But why isn’t that true in other countries? Do we do a lot more tests? Do we spend lots of money to keep people alive an extra month or two?
Exactly! The devil is in the details.
I suspect if the US stopped supporting other countries, it wouldn’t exponentially enhance our healthcare system. It’s likely that any funds redirected from international support wouldn’t go towards healthcare. Or, if they did, those who needed it the most wouldn’t likely benefit from it. Seems FEMA contracted with Panthera Worldwide for $55 million to deliver 10 million N95 medical masks. Funny thing, Panthera is not a manufacturer nor has experience producing masks. FEMA had to cancel the contract for non-delivery. Surprise, surprise! https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/497478-fema-cancels-55-million-mask-contract
So, who’s monitoring to ensure our government spending is being done effectively??? Who knows what a legitimate investigation might turn up. Could it be that some government officials are profiting from their “service” to our country? Perish the thought!
Let’s see…we tout how much we spend on healthcare (more than most). Yet, our current system isn’t universal but more costly. As well, the flawed one we currently have (which covers preexisting conditions) is at risk of being cancelled by our president and administration…without a viable, cost-effective replacement during a national health crisis. ONLY in America!