Everything You Need to Know about Healthcare Economics in One Chart

The title of this post may be a slight exaggeration. I actually recommend you read the entire two-page paper by Devon Herrick of the National Center for Policy Analysis. But this chart from that study is an excellent visual display of what’s wrong with the health care system.

You can see that the price of medical care is rising twice as fast as inflation, but you can also see that prices for cosmetic services are rising only half as fast as the general price level. Why are general health care prices soaring, yet prices in one segment of the health care world are very stable (and actually falling relative to all other prices)? The answer is simple. As Devon writes:

A primary reason why health care costs are soaring is that most of the time when people enter the medical marketplace, they are spending someone else’s money. When patients pay their own medical bills, they are conservative consumers. Economic studies and common sense confirm that people are less likely to be prudent, careful shoppers if someone else is picking up the tab. Thus, the increase in spending has occurred because third parties – employers, insurance companies or government – pay almost all the bills.

Study this image for two minutes and contemplate the implications. After that, you’ll know more about healthcare economics than 98 percent of all politicians (though that’s not exactly a huge accomplishment).