Why is healthcare costs 1/6th of our economy??

[kentuck]

The Republicans and the detractors of healthcare reform accuse the Democrats of messing with something that is 17% of our economy. My question is: why would we not want to fix something that is costing us so much money? How long before it is 1/5th of our economy?

This is a totally ridiculous argument and proves the necessity for reform, in my opinion, not the reverse. Why should we be paying so much for healthcare? We should be discussing how we can cut it to 10% or less? Just my opinion...

[Hydra]

1. Two words:

"New Bubble"

[Hannah Bell]

8. ding. it's like war. it's a way of siphoning government money into private pockets.

[Orrex]

2. Because our military budget is the other 5/6?

[rurallib]

3. Thimk of this: the insurance companies get 5% for denying claims

(30% of the 17% goes to insurance company overhead.)
That's a pretty good chunk ($600 billion) just to say "NO"

[tularetom]

4. I've been asking that for years

Part of the answer is that health care is overpriced here. The other part is that the rest of the economy has dried up and blown away which means that the growth in health care costs has been compounded.

There's no reason in the world why health care should consume such a ginormous fraction of our economy. Guarantee you it doesn't happen anywhere else.

[HughMoran]

5. Costs a lot and makes small business - the "engine of the economy" uncompetitive

What more do the Republicans need to know? Are they just "against" it because they didn't think of it?

[Tumbulu]

6. Healthcare cannot be outsourced and so the real inflation shows

Everything else has not risen with inflation because production has been outsourced. textiles, tools, housewares. But take a look at housing- although it could be argued that undocumented workers keep those costs artificially low- and healthcare and you can see the huge jumps of percentage of income spent on it since the 70's.

[Festivito]

7. Because the media runs HC commercials.

Also, the media makes more money with Republicans running for office than if Dems were as loved as Dems should be. So, the CEOs of media just think they are doing well and thus they see themselves as doing good for the country.