Re: Tariffs and bikes

On 4/11/2025 9:46 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:

On 4/11/2025 3:52 AM, Catrike Ryder wrote:

>
Here's another related mind boggle:
>
The polling in the USA indicates that most people are unhappy with the
federal government,
https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approval/ congressional/approval-rating
>
  yet many of them want to put government bureaucrats in charge of
their health care.

As opposed to the current scheme in which private insurance companies are in charge of their health care?
 Hmm. How can we see which works better? Maybe by examining health care costs and results for countries using each scheme?
 By that standard, the American health care system sucks. It's by far the most expensive in the world, and delivers far, far from the best results.
 Granted, that doesn't prove that a converted U.S. system would be better. It may be that U.S. politicians could find a way to screw it up. They seem to be almost uniquely capable of screwing up good ideas.
 Overall, I remain astonished by people who try to defend the U.S. health care system. I can only assume those people are almost totally innumerate; or perhaps on the take with the current system.
 

It is indeed not fully government run but has strayed far from a free market.
The regulations* are voluminous, draconian, excessive and in many instances counterproductive with disincentives all through. One great example is the establishment of PBMs and price controls which incentivize kickbacks (the industry says 'rebates') and padding various 'cost' bases.  Throw in the deluge of flagrant Medicaid and Medicare phony billing codes for fictitious services and a few hundred other rackets, scams and shortcuts.
UK NHS runs about US$4310 per human:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy7zvp5xrqo
US runs roughly $13493
While there are differences in the systems (age cutoffs and delays versus outright denials) it's not clear to me that we have a 310% quality differential to match the price difference.
As economists say about that sort of systemic degradation, 'You can make fish soup from an aquarium but it's hard to go back.'
*No industry suffers more regulation, by a wide margin. And not only Federal regulation. States pile on in pernicious ways too, for example one has to either cajole or bribe regulators for permits to open a hospital or buy new equipment for existing facilities.
--
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971