Comment on: "Medicare for All comes with a price tag — and hard choices"

Medicare for All comes with a price tag — and hard choices

by Megan McArdle,
Washington Post, July 31, 2018

There is a very simple back of the envelope calculation which can demonstrate the net benefit of a Medicare-for-all type of health insurance plan:

The US spends about 2.5 times per capita on health care than most developed nations, or about 17.6 percent of GDP - that works out to $ 8,233 per person per year (2010) - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/health-costs-how-the-us-compares-with-other-countries - growing to $ 10,348 per year in 2016.

Germany, by contrast, pays an average of $4,500 per person per year (or about 11.3% of GDP) - lower cost for virtually 100% coverage and much better health outcomes and life expectancy (I know this from personal experience, as I with my family lived and worked in Germany for more that 10 years and we were insured under the mandated health insurance)

So, just as an example, if the US adopted the German model for universal health care, and was able to implement it with the same efficiency and effectiveness (unfortunately, that is not at all a given), the total national expenditure for healthcare should go down to about 11.3% of GDP.

2016 GDP (2016) was $18.57 Trillion
17.6% of that is $ 3.27 Trillion
11.3% of that is $ 2.10 Trillion
Potential SAVINGS is $ 1.17 Trillion PER YEAR