The Economics of Healthcare: Crash Course Economics #29 | Only Sports And Health



Why is health care so expensive? Once again, there are a lot of factors in play. Jacob and Adriene look at the many reasons that health care in the US is so expensive, and what exactly we get for all that money. Spoiler alert: countries that spend less and get better results are not that uncommon.

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32 thoughts on “The Economics of Healthcare: Crash Course Economics #29 | Only Sports And Health

  1. Private insurers + premiums , public insurers + taxes single payer system. Medicare for single poverty , Medicaid family poverty. Cost of health Care , Deductable to prevent over visits. Iron triangle = Congress, loobyist and beaurocrats.

  2. Another important consideration is the mixture of a for-profit system, that is also heavily subsidized. When the majority of healthcare dollars flowing through the system are from the government, the normal market forces that control costs in other industries, are essentially disabled. Add to that the tax incentives to employers to provide health insurance for employees, and that removes the consumer from the market even further.

  3. Re like 5:30 … I really wish I could get it through politicians heads that I do not want to spend any more time in a hospital than I need to. I under consume. And when I had free or low cost health care the only difference was I went to my regular check ups. My mother is a hypochondriac with good insurance and she does go a lot, but the frequency isn't going to increase if she doesn't pay for it. She's not driven by cost, she's driven by a need for attention and wanting to be special. What's more, every time I've been fleeced in a hospital, it's been when I was in very serious condition and a (usually private) hospital has decided to just run a bunch of tests without good reason. It would be really nice if when I cannot give coherent consent, I did not have to worry about someone giving me a CAT scan I'm not insured for for no good reason (and yes I know doctors often do things in my interest but I have at least one example of being given a CAT scan for food poisoning…).

  4. Maaan the too early to tell on the Affordable Care Act comment… when this video came out I was on ACA. Two months after this video came out I had a stroke, at 30 (I'm in great health it was just a freak injury that caused it). I am so so grateful I was able to get proper healthcare and afford the follow up to make sure I didn't have another. No way I could have afforded the two hour ambulance ride from my local hospital to the specialist hospital without insurance or probably even with the employer insurance I have now. Just an anecdote but I may well owe my life to ACA.

  5. Yeah, btw the VA system sucks and is responsible for many of the homeless vets you see on the streets (the real ones) And I’m pretty sure it’s more similar to Canada’s system than Britain’s because it’s single payer and not socialized

  6. It annoys me they talk specifically about the American, healthcare here and not the healthcare in general. Other countries are just counter examples. It's supposed to be crush course economy, not American Economy!

  7. There seems to be no clear answer, just the same old same old. What is capitation? What if one doesn’t go to the doctor for 5 years, at $8k per year should they get a reimbursement of $40k? Or maybe apply the unused portion to something that insurance typically doesn’t cover.

  8. I know this video is 7 years old but Imma miss Jacob 🙁 I love both of them and their dynamic, it sucks that I'm almost done with this course! DFTBA!

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