Crazy Americans

Total national health spending grew by 4 percent in 2009, the slowest rate of increase in 50 years, as people lost their jobs, lost health insurance and deferred medical care, the federal government reported on Wednesday. Still, health care accounted for a larger share of a smaller economy — a record 17.6 percent of the total economic output in 2009, the report said. The economy contracted while health spending continued to grow. The nation spent $2.5 trillion on health care in 2009, for an average of $8,086 a person, and the recession had a profound influence.

The number of visits to doctors’ offices apparently declined. Many hospitals reported fewer admissions, as patients put off medical procedures. Spending on dental services declined slightly. Many hospitals and other health care providers reduced their capital investments. Spending on doctors’ services in 2009 increased at the slowest pace since 1996, according to the new federal study, being published in the journal Health Affairs.

O futuro sombrio da saúde

A sustentabilidade da saúde não se discute só em Portugal. Os EUA são os mais gastadores do mundo, e apesar de tentarem controlar o monstro da despesa da saúde, não o conseguiram até agora.

Estamos em ano eleitoral nos EUA e o debate sobre a saúde é grande. Os custos são ainda maiores. Vejamos o que se diz aqui:

• In a system in which someone else is footing the bill, consumers, encouraged to regard health care as a "right," demand medical services without having to consider their real price. When, through the 1970s and 1980s, this artificially inflated consumer demand sent expenditures soaring out of control, the government cracked down by enacting further coercive measures: price controls on medical services, cuts to medical benefits, and a crushing burden of regulations on every aspect of the health care system.
• And President Bush's colossal prescription drug entitlement--expected to cost taxpayers more than $1.2 trillion over the next decade--was the largest expansion of government control over health care in 40 years.
• Today, nearly half of all spending on health care in America is government spending.

Ou seja, apesar do Estado Americano não possuir um "sistema de saúde" de tipo Europeu, suporta na realidade cerca de metade da despesa da saúde.

Tem que se rever forçosamente a importância que se atribui à saúde e aos seus gastos. De outra forma, poderemos ter alguns serviços de saúde, mas não termos recursos para comer, para vestir ou para comprar livros!

Não se pode querer conquistar o "Santo Graal"! A saúde não pode ser eterna, por muito que isso custe a cada um de nós.

Por todas as razões e mais uma: há uns quantos "Senhores", que se aproveitam desta debilidade humana: laboratórios farmacêuticos, médicos, seguradoras, etc.

Os gastos com a saúde e a esperança média de vida

Fonte: aqui.

The Economist stated:

In 2003, America spent $5,635 per person on health care, more than twice the average in rich economies, according to a new OECD report. Britain spent only $2,231 per person. Health spending accounted for 15% of America's GDP. Germany, France, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland also spent over 10% of GDP on health. America is the only country where more than half of all health spending is within the private sector.

Fonte: aqui.