When Social Security benefits were first paid in 1940, 46 percent of adult males couldn’t even make it to 65, and for those who did, the average additional life expectancy was less than 13 years. For a typical 65-year-old couple today, at least one partner, on average, will likely make it to 90 or beyond
For a typical 65-year-old couple, Social Security and Medicare benefits, adjusted for inflation, are worth over $1.1 million today, compared with $330,000 in 1960.
Category: Cost of Healthcare
Saturday Links
- Eating two extra fries, chips, gummy bears or a single teaspoon of ice cream on a given day cancels out the calorie effect of reduced consumption due to sugar sweetened beverage taxes.
- Whole Foods founder launches “cash only” health company.
- Explaining the economic development gap: While the printing press spread rapidly in Western Europe after its invention by Johannes Gutenberg in 1450, the Ottomans prohibited its use for almost 250 years.
- In 2019, the federal government spent $5,595 per child on programs benefiting children compared to $29,189 on the average senior.
Commonwealth Fund: Medical Care is Expensive and Many People Find it Unaffordable
The Commonwealth Fund (a proponent of Big Government health care) released its 2023 health care survey that found about half of Americans have problems affording health care.
Given the necessity of insurance to defray the full cost of health care in the United States, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the vast majority of people who had spent some time uninsured during the year would report difficulty affording their health care costs. More surprising is the large share of adults who had insurance all year but still report difficulty paying health care expenses.
Thursday Links
- Why are the esteemed models of medical governance (e.g., Intermountain Health, Geisinger, and the Mayo Clinic) located in the hinterland, instead of in the big cities?
- Scientists have known for two decades that Sudafed was no better than a placebo.
- Nearly all entrepreneurs face serious mental health challenges.
- A critical reassessment of statins.
- Is it time to update the “value of a statistical life”?