Conover Debunks Health Care Myths
Christopher Conover at AEI discusses his new book American Health Economy Illustrated.
Myth: Relative to other countries, the U.S. spends “too much” on health care.
Differences in income explain 85% of variations in health spending.
The U.S. is spending what it should in GDP per capita, while France spends 1/5 too much, and Canada and the U.K. spend too little. Blue states are spending too much due to overregulation (Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey). After RomneyCare Massachusetts has the highest level of health care spending.
Myth: The U.S. has an abysmal infant mortality rate.
It does rate 43rd, but there is no standard for reporting infant mortality. The U.S. is one of eight countries that count extremely premature infants as live births despite low chances of survival. If we categorize births by length of gestations the U.S. ranks 2nd, 3rd, or 4th (depending on type of rank) to European countries.
