Health care looting watch: Sanders raises, misstates an important point!

FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2016

The Washington Post is amazed:
Last night, Candidate Sanders raised an excellent point. He also misstated the facts.

We've seen him do this many times. It drives the analysts wild:
SANDERS (4/14/16): We are the only country, major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people, and yet we end up spending almost three times what the British do, 50 percent more than the French.
"Why does he say that?" the analysts cry. "Why does he say that we only spend 50 percent more than the French?"

We've never known what to tell them. That statistic is crazily wrong.

This morning, the Washington Post actually fact-checked this frequently flubbed fiscal factoid. They provided the actual stats, then showed us the state of our world:
KESSLER AND LEE (continuing directly from above): Sanders is citing 2013 figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Its health resources data shows the United States spends $8,713 per person for health care, compared to $4,124 for France and $3,235 for the United Kingdom.

That would mean the U.S. spends almost double per person than the French (50 percent only gets you to $6,186) and about 2.7 times what they spend in the U.K. So he understated the difference with the French and slightly overstated the British. But his overall point is correct—and eye-opening.
In fact, the United States spends more than twice as much as the French on a per capita basis. For years, we tried to generate interest in figures like these. Simply put, it can't be done:
Per capita spending on health care, 2013
United States: $8713
France: $4124
United Kingdom: $3235
As we've noted many times, those are astonishing data. Think how all that extra spending works out for a family of four and you have a window onto a giant example of corporate/upper end looting.

That said, absolutely no one is interested in exploring data like those. Rachel Maddow is much too busy diddling herself as she dreams her dreams about those telephone records from the D.C. Madam, who died in 2008. And about those SALACIOUS AUDIOTAPES! The ones involving lurid anatomical non-phone sex phone sex! Involving a red state governor! And his wife of fifty years!

Well-paid players refuse to discuss this topic on our own "news channel." Candidate Sanders often raises this important point—and when he does, he massively understates the actual size of the problem.

Last night, the Washington Post decided to post the real facts. This will, of course, be a waste of time. We couldn't help laughing at this:

"But his overall point is correct—and eye-opening."

Kessler and Lee are right in one way. Candidate Sanders' overall point is very much correct.

That said, we emitted low, mordant chuckles when they called this point "eye-opening." That's only true because big newspapers like the Post refuse to report, discuss or explore this remarkable state of affairs.

That giant amount of extra spending represents massive looting. Donald Trump's voters are getting ripped off; so are voters for Clinton and Sanders.

Big papers like the Post and the Times refuse to let voters know that. Rachel wants you thinking about who got "shtupped" long ago.

18 comments:

  1. And, we spend three times as much as Japan. OECD figures on this are easily available to the MSM.

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  2. And, we spend three times as much as Japan. OECD figures on this are easily available to the MSM.

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    1. And Bartman always send in double the comments he needs to, but does it for free. Saves 50% per comment according to independent Vermont Socialist math.

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  3. Doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies are populated by people more motivated by finances than the health of patients.

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    1. Comment boxes, on the other hand, are populated by self sacrificing do gooders aimed at joining vanity bloggers in repeating a message until the greedy bastards repent.

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  4. If someone cannot get the numbers right is he qualified to be president?

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  5. I wonder what the spending ratio is for college tuition. I somehow doubt that a Bachelors' degree (or equivalent) costs a quarter of a million dollars in France and England.

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    1. You may have given the head professor-basher in charge of this place a new cause to run into the ground DinC.

      Congratulations.

      Delete
  6. Has TDH drunk the Corporate Media Koolaid? Overstating the facts about Bernie don’t make it so!

    We consulted our analysts here at The Daily Hype, who warned us not to engage in mind reading. Has The Howler drunk the Koolaid? Not being clairvoyant we can’t possibly know, but the exaggeration of claiming in the headline that Bernie “misstates” an important fact seems to be the more likely misstatement, for whatever reason.

    The Howler expands its distortion in the April 15 piece, claiming Bernie’s statement regarding French per capita health care spending is “wildly wrong.” Then shifting into hyperbolic overdrive, The Howler screams “[t]hat statistic is crazily wrong.” We would humbly suggest decaf for analysts at The Howler.

    The cited WaPo article is much more sensible regarding his claims, saying “So he understated the difference with the French and slightly overstated the British.” So The Howler is up in arms that Bernie understated the facts regarding French—against political advantage. Heaven forfend! Bernie didn’t go as far as could have in stating a generally true and monumentally important truth in health care: all the other major countries provide universal health care and get significantly more bang for the buck than the feckless USA. But The Howler buries the lead in order to stroke analyst thighs while shouting that Bernie can’t get his facts straight.

    Here at The Daily Hype we have been appreciatively reading The Howler for about two decades. Whoops! The fact is we have only been reading it for 17 years, so by Howler criteria we are “wildly” and “crazily” misstating the facts. Yet the overall truth is that TDH began as a lone voice of sanity in the wilderness as the media war on the Clintons and Gore proceeded apace. But times change and so do big media narratives.

    We now are dominated by hyper-consolidation of media ownership, so that editorial control has evolved from indifference to a chattering “gaggle of Heathers,” to a pro-active assertion of corporate interests. This is the reason, according to our analysts, that Hillary has received disproportionate and positive coverage relative to Bernie, who has experienced a Corporate Media blackout for the lion’s share of this cycle. But this approach does nothing for analyst thighs at The Howler, so we are stuck with nostalgic memes of that ol’ debbil, Anti-Clinton bias!

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  7. Why does Bob hate Rachel Maddow so much?
    A) Rachel is a woman
    B) Rachel is gay
    C) Bob is an angry old white southern conservative
    D) Bob's ego can't handle that she makes more in a week than he does in a year
    E) All of the above.

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  8. F) Her show sucks

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    1. G) @9:56 PM must watch it to confirm its suckiness.

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    2. Very difficult to watch.

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    3. Yet she has a show and Bob doesn't (and never will. And just makes Bob crazy with envy.

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  9. When I first came to this blog I wondered why people in the comments were being so hostile to Somerby, who seemed to be saying little to justify that treatment. I have since concluded that it is one person who is obsessed with him and who has an axe to grind. Over time, it has become clear that this obsessive person is mentally ill. Perhaps others here have reached the same conclusion. Nevertheless, the comments of that hostile person are tiresome and it would be nice if he or she would stop. Probably too much to hope for given the nature of mental illness.

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    Replies
    1. When did you first come to the blog?

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    ReplyDelete
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