Posted by
Scott Ott on Tuesday, July 14, 2009 8:26:43 AM
Today's
Washington Post refers to ".
..the daunting challenge of remaking a health system that consumes $1 out of every $6 spent in the country..."
Did you ever wonder why journalists don't refer to other side of the balance sheet when it comes to the health care industry? Of course, they're just mouthing platitudes put out by politicians and their special-interest supporters, but it doesn't take an accounting genius to consider that across the ledger from "expense" is the word "revenue". By repeated exposure to that '1-in-6' figure, you might get the sense that the health care industry is a net drain on the U.S. economy.
Can you imagine a journalist reporting that $1 out of every $6 spent in this country is "consumed" by the media?
For the sake of this discussion, let's set aside aside the health-related outcomes of the medical business, and strictly consider the financial output.
The $1 that the "health system" allegedly "consumes" doesn't just vanish into the ether. In addition to providing tangible, often-measurable benefits to the customer, the dollar also produces the following...
- personal income to support families (including little children) of everyone from insurance agents, to scientists, to medical equipment engineers and manufacturers, nurses, doctors, janitors, food service staff, ambulance drivers and the attorneys who chase them, construction workers, architects and many others;
- tax revenues (real estate, income, sales, corporate, etc.) paid to local, state and federal governments, including politicians who sometimes make factually-inaccurate or misleading statements about the impact of the health care system on the economy;
- tuition and student loan payments for degrees, from community colleges to med schools and a range of educational institutions in between;
- contributions to charities, faith communities, public TV & radio, universities from which health care workers earn degrees, and even to incumbent politicians who send out news releases with skewed information about health care and the economy;
- sales of unrelated goods and services to people who draw their income from health care industry employment: homes, cars, fuel, vacations, clothing, food, even newspapers and cable TV that pay journalists who sometimes report one-sided information about crucial economic issues;
- investment income to advance medical science, as makers of drugs and medical gear do R&D to increase the effectiveness of their products;
- retirement income for people who have invested in the stock of medical firms;
- investment income for medical firm stockholders that then gets spent on luxury goods, commodities and everything in between.
This is not an argument for the current pricing structure (already overly-influenced by government's regulation, price fixing and subsidies). It's an effort to bring balance to the discussion, or at least discussion of the balance sheet.
A dollar "consumed" by anything but government, generally produces a dollar, more or less, in value, as well as a ripple effect through the economy that generates benefits for people in all socioeconomic strata. The one sure way to louse up this beneficent cycle of blessing is to increase control by politicians and bureaucrats who have understanding of neither health care, nor basic economics.
As you travel your community today, look at the homes, the cars, the stores, the people, the medical offices, the hospital and realize that $1 out of every $6 spent in this country supports a quality of life unsurpassed in world history, for you, your family and your neighbors, thanks to the health care industry.
There now, that should make you feel better.
Author, speaker, and Washington Examiner columnist Scott Ott, is candidate for Lehigh County Executive in Eastern Pennsylvania.