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Yeah, OK.
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Healthcare is the number one voting issue for the 2020
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presidential elections.
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And we've seen Elizabeth Warren come out recently and propose
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something rather European.
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A Medicare-for-all programme, which would essentially mimic
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a European-style, nationalised healthcare programme in the US.
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This may be a step too far for US voters.
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But, economically, it makes a lot of sense.
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America has the highest healthcare costs
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and yet lower outcomes than many European nations,
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or even OECD nations, as a whole.
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It's clear that we need healthcare reform.
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But Americans have always thought about healthcare
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in a way that's very individualistic.
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I had some personal experience with that when I was travelling
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between London and New York a few years back and had my first
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child.
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I had a slightly higher than average
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risk of certain kinds of foetal abnormalities.
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In the US, my GYN recommended that I
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do lots and lots of expensive tests for a very, very
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tiny result of negative externalities.
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In the UK, my British midwife told me, hey,
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you have a 99.8 per cent chance of having a healthy baby.
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I'd play those odds.
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This really gets to the heart of the existential difference
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in healthcare between Europe and the US.
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In Europe, healthcare is a right.
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It is a collective responsibility.
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And the idea of not providing a basic safety net
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would be pretty unthinkable.
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In the US, healthcare has always been perceived as a privilege.
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So you have some of the highest levels of concierge care.
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You have high levels of healthcare innovation.
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At the very low end of the spectrum,
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you can get universal coverage through Medicaid.
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But, in the middle, there are a lot
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of people that aren't covered.
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And that leads to healthcare being the number one
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cause of personal bankruptcy in the US, one of the key
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reasons that people cycle in and out of poverty,
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and, some believe, a drag on our overall GDP growth.
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Look for this to be a key issue in 2020.
