Why do we spend so much on health care?

We kept being told that health care is getting too expensive and that there is only so much money to go around. Slowly we come to accept that more often we will be required to contribute privately to make sure our health needs are met. But is this really the case?

HealthExpenditure

Take a look at this graph showing relative expenditure for nine countries, including New Zealand. It does raise some questions about the political “lines” we are being fed about what is “affordable” health care. If a country has a high taxation level (combined GST or user-pays taxation plus income tax), like New Zealand, why is it unable to provide free health care? Why does a so-called wealthy country like the US spend so much more public expenditure than other countries per person? And why is the US private health expenditure out-weigh public health expenditure?

Perhaps some of the answers are provided in the following video from Upworthy:

His First 4 Sentences Are Interesting. The 5th Blew My Mind. And Made Me A Little Sick

Doesn’t anyone believe that good health is a human right? Or is that right overruled by the belief that private business has the ultimate right to extract a profit from any field of endeavour?

A good thing to ponder given the Western World’s pre-occupation with “Peace on earth and good will toward mankind”.

Heather Sylvawood, Amazon author