No one seems to be writing opinion pieces quite the way I would, so I decided to do it myself.

The name? Taverns are places where one goes to discuss the interesting events and things in the world, so this is my tavern.

I will offer my views on politics, economics, and whatever else strikes my fancy.
I will occasionally publish the entire article from another journal for purposes of causing discussion.

 

Universal Healthcare vs Cost

Japan and Great Britain both cover 100% of their population for health care for a cost of about 7% to 8% of the Gross Domestic Product. The US covers about 86% of its population at a cost of about 15 to 16% of the annual GDP, and gets no better results according to statistics. Every effort to use the 'Free Market' to lower costs has failed to change the inefficiencies that produce those strange results, except the introduction of HMOs.

HMOs reduced the increase in healthcare costs from about 1995 to 1999, but that was because of the lower initial costs of HMOs and their willingness to reduce profits to build market share. By 1999, with 75% of the nation's insured in HMOs, medical costs returned to their normal increase of 8 to 9% per year. The problem is that demand always exceeds supply, and that an uncontrolled market will always encourage suppliers to increase the available supply as long as there is someone who will pay for it. Since someone with a fatal or miserable illness can always be induced to pay for a cure, the inflation of medical cost will always be with us. There is no alternative to which we can switch. The question is, how do we get the needed medical care to those who need it most when they need it.

I don't see any reasonable alternative to a single payer system, but that clearly does involve a certain limitation of demand. Any single payer system must allow some people to pay for care that is new and exploratory, beyond what the official system pays for.

This is the best brief description I have seen of the overall problem:
Slate Magazine
posted by Richard at 4:35 PM