Tom Del Rosso wrote:
This is an interesting argument, which states it is not good
to spend too little on health care. But it is also true that
it is not good to spend too much on healthcare, because beyond
a certain point you are killing more people due to the consumption
and pollution associated with excess spending, than you are saving.
The best numbers I have seen (I've posted the cites for these
here before, so I won't repeat them at this moment) is that
every $1 trillion in economic activity causes, on average, about
360,000 human deaths worldwide. Because the U.S. overspends
on healthcare (e.g. the U.S. expends 17% of GDP on healthcare
whereas all evidence indicates outcomes would be as good or
better with an expenditure of 9%), our excess uncontrolled
healthcare spending is killing 400,000 people annually. Similarly,
the U.S. expends 11% of GDP consuming food, but is consuming
about 80% more food than is dietarily necessary, so this translates
into another 200,000 people killed annually due to eating excesses.
Of course many Americans take the attitude that it's none
of anyone else's business how much they consume. This is known
worldwide as a wrong attitude, and the knowledge is sinking
in of late that in fact it's not just wrong, it's a homicidal attitude.
If one lived in Italy one would not only be happier, one
would be personally responsible for killing fewer people.
(And that's not even getting into all the other negative effects
of excess consumption, such as mortality of non-human species
and general environmental destruction.)
Steve