Yeah . . . not like the largest generation in these United States being in their 60's, 70's, and 80's would have moved that needle at all . . .
Too many factors changed in the 34 years dividing your graphs to attribute the rise in healthcare spending solely to (un)Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Mind you, I agree they are too large currently, and that they are a contributing factor, but I can't make the leap you're suggesting.
Do you agree that government subsidized college has been one of the major contributors to the insane costs of tuition? As soon as the government gets involved in anything, the costs necessarily increase.
The left is angry because they are now being judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.
As I stated in my reply, certainly the engorged subsidies that the Democrats shut the government down to extend are a contributing factor, but there are too many other factors in the equation to lay the cause at the feet of the subsidies. The aging of the Boomers alone is sufficient to cause such a shift given they account for roughly a quarter of the entire population with the youngest among them over the age of 60 now.
Speaking for myself, and I highly doubt that I am an exception to the general rule, my medical spending in the last few years after the age of 60 is easily tenfold what I spent over the course of my life from 21-60, without factoring in the cost of insurance mind you. I expect that rapid growth in spending to increase, not decrease, as I continue to age. I will likely consume more health care in my 70's than I will in my 60's, and probably more in my 80's than I will in my 70's. When the largest generation is also the oldest generation, you're going to have a lot more healthcare spending than you did when the largest generation was in the prime of their life and significantly smaller percentages of the population were elderly.
And why do we need so many more administrators? Legislation, regulation and litigation. Every new regulation requires treatment protocols be reviewed, rewritten, reviewed again, changes to CBT modules, read & signs . . . many positions now are two year certificates, which require administrative oversight by licensed individuals.
Once government bureaucracies started governing healthcare, the providers needed to adopt bureaucracies of their own to ensure compliance with all of the legislation and regulations that were enacted.
PBM R NUMBER TWO FACTOR ...AGING POPULATION IS NUMBER 1.
AND THEN U HAVE THE FAMILIES THAT BRINGS IN THE ELDER ,WITH A VERY POOR PROGNOSIS
AND SAYS "DO EVERYTHING POSS, TO KEEP HIM/HER WITH US,$$$$$ LITERALLY FLUSHED DOWN THE TOILET,BECAUSE THERE REALLY WAS NO CURE....BUT OUR LIGATION HAPPY
POPULATION IS THE DRIVER ON THIS FACTOR.
Wall Street Journal had an article today that the plans for Medicare and Medicaid will send a whole year of prescription drugs to seniors to boost sales. So much fraud going on and no one cares.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
