Income, Inequality, Health Care Policy
Income inequality is a major issue throughout the world, and the U.S. is the worst of the bad. The effects are huge. The Wilkinson video clearly shows how the U.S. and other of the most unequal countries have social issues far beyond the norm for industrialized countries. Our rate of mental illness is three times that of Sweden and similar countries. We have more persons in prison per capita than any nation in history. Our social/economic mobility makes that of other nations look good; we have become the “land of little opportunity.”
Health care is similar. We spend, based on percentages spent on health care and the size of GDP, an extra $1.3 trillion on health care, but we fail to cover everyone, health care remains the number one reason for personal bankruptcy, our copays are high, we live three years less than in other industrialized countries, and we have excessive malpractice. It doesn’t seem like we’re getting much for our dollar.
In this discussion, focus on why we struggle in these areas. Maybe we’re just not as intelligent as other nations, but I really doubt that. We may be less knowledgeable. Is it our Constitution, which makes change difficult, the reason? Does our culture doom us to mediocracy?
These are major issues, and international studies have shown that Americans aren’t, in comparison, a very happy lot. Why?
