Examining the Single Payer Health Care Option: Marcia Angell Testimony

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Run time: 06:01 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQNphM6xUsE   Posted on YouTube: June 10, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: June 11, 2009 By DU Member: slipslidingaway Views on DU: 1280

 
7 page pdf

http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/testimony/20090610MarciaAngellTestimony.pdf

Written Statement of Marcia Angell, M. D.

Senior Lecturer in Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Former Editor-in-Chief, New England Journal of Medicine

"The American health system is uniquely expensive and inflationary. Last
year we spent about $2.5 trillion on health care, or some $8,000 per person,
and costs keep growing much faster than the background inflation rate.

What about comparably wealthy countries? If we look at the 30 members of
the OECD, we find a startling disparity. In the most recent year for which
figures are available, we spent two and a half times as much per person on
health care as the median for the OECD countries. The other countries
clustered fairly close together, while we stood clearly apart, and that gap is
growing. Clearly, our health system is unsustainable...."