Bernie Sanders on Health Care Costs

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/us/politics/bernie-sanders-health-care-costs.html

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Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and other 2020 candidates often note that the United States spends twice as much on health care as other comparable nations but gets less value in return.

Government data shows that the United States spent about $10,740 per person on health care in 2017. Other comparable nations spent about $5,280 the same year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

One 2017 study found that despite spending far more than other high-income countries, the American health care system ranked last in overall performance when compared with several nations, including Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Mr. Sanders has long railed against the health care industry, arguing that it has gotten rich at the expense of regular Americans.

Mr. Sanders likes to cite the health care industry — along with companies like Amazon and Wal-Mart — as a prime example of the “corporate greed” his campaign is fighting head-on.

Attempts by the White House and Republicans to kill the Affordable Care Act have shown how much voters value health care, bolstering Mr. Sanders’s case for quality care that voters can afford.

The health care industry at large may provide a convenient political target. And experts agree that there is certainly waste in the system. But putting a price on longevity or well-being is tricky, and the best evidence tells us that health care is still very valuable, even at United States prices.

As the fight to pass the Affordable Care Act and more recent squabbles about “Medicare for all” have shown, lobbyists will fiercely oppose any health care reform they think could threaten profits.