Thursday, July 16, 2009

Marginal Cost of Healthcare

Glenn Reynolds pointed me to a post by Dave at Classical Values on the marginal cost of life:
The notion we must limit health care in the long run because we can't afford it is somewhat flawed. Consider this: at 3% growth, GDP per capita will be around $175,000 by 2059 versus about $40,000 today (yes, even adjusted for inflation). There's no reason we couldn't spend up to 90% of that new $135,000 on health care, as opposed to other luxuries that only provide utility as long as you're healthy and alive; in fact, it would be entirely rational to do so.
I love the fact that he rejects the premise that the change in healthcare spending is unsustainable, that he's willing to say that healthcare costs are spiraling out of control and that's ok.

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