Healthcare Costs
U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono (D–HI) claims that Democrats are trying to “lower” healthcare costs.
IN FACT, Democrat proposals don’t lower healthcare costs but transfer them to taxpayers, who paid an average of $19,000 per U.S. household for government healthcare programs in 2024. This makes healthcare more costly by:
- blinding patients to prices because others are paying the tab.
- enabling waste, fraud, and abuse.
- creating layers of regulations and bureaucracy.
- shifting the costs of government mandates onto private-sector patients.
In addition, government healthcare programs increase enticements to loaf and reduce incentives to work.
Countries with socialized medicine spend a smaller portion of their economy on healthcare than the USA, but they ration healthcare through “waiting lists, gatekeeping, and limiting individuals’ choices.”
Among the other reasons for relatively high U.S. healthcare spending, the United States leads the world in medical innovations, and all other countries benefit from these breakthroughs.
