<p>Which policy is best for health? No money spent on health? So let’s raise taxes to pay for health? Or pay for it without raising taxes? The United States spends about 18% of GDP on health. That’s more than most of the industrialized world. It also costs less than most countries. The three main components of that 18% are spending by the federal government, state and local governments, and individuals.</p>
<p>There are a couple of caveats. First, health spending does not include the costs of spending on education and the provision of goods and services (that includes <a href="https://www.imdb.com/list/ls089130588/">health insurance</a>). Second, costs are divided into components, the cost of medical care and drugs, plus administrative expenses. The cost of medical care and drugs includes such things as hospital fees, physician fees, pharmaceuticals, ambulance rides, and the like. Administrative expenses include things such as purchasing insurance and payroll taxes.</p>
<p>So, given the logic of this discussion, what would we need to do to move toward a system of universal health insurance that has the following characteristics:</p>
<ol>
<li>Health care is paid for as an inescapable and universally covered benefit with no co-pays, no deductibles, and no annual limits on coverage.</li>
<li>There are no overpayments for sick or excessive use of care.</li>
<li>There are no patients who have no coverage at all. There are no people who have to go to the emergency room because they cannot afford the bill or who lose their job and can’t keep their job so have no insurance at all.
