Our Health System if Economists Were its Management
The government does not tax employers on the health insurance they sponsor. The government loses $250 billion in tax revenue from this policy. Several health economists indicate that this policy encourages many abundant health insurance plans, which in turn results in wasteful spending. These health economists dislike the tax break, indeed only 14% believe it should be kept. However, they are the only group that would prefer any change to the so called Cadillac tax. Public opinion swayed lawmakers from removing this policy.
Much of the discussion on healthcare spending is about prescription medications. Much of this spending results in major profits for big pharma. The industry claims that these big profits are necessary for R&D. These health economists challenge this notion as the science does not support it. Besides, 48% of these economist disagree that innovation is a consequence of these profits. In fact, only 28% agree and the remainder do not express an opinion on the subject. The majority of these health economists (93%) believe that wages and other employee benefits would go up if employers were to spend less on health insurance.
The healthcare system would change little if these health economists managing it because there is no clear consensus across the various stakeholders in the US healthcare sector. Click the link to read the full article.