“We Don’t Spend Enough on Health Care” is the title of the latest WSJ article I just read. Although Craig Karpel makes a few interesting points, I cannot recommend the article because I came away with the feeling that his comments lack balanced and complete information. He cites a lot of facts that suggest how the health care industry is our future economic engine, but he clearly is not telling the whole story. He cites a study that says 400,000 non-US residents obtained medical care in the US in 2008, but there is no mention of how many US residents obtained medical care in other countries. It could be more or less than 400,000 but Karpel doesn’t tell the reader.
However, the article did make me think about a related issue. If the government suddenly started buying bicycles by the millions and putting them on every corner and also started spending defense budget size amounts on safe, well-marked bicycle lanes on all roads, would we call that health care spending? I’m just asking because I can see a lot of logic in spending more on bicycles and bicycle lanes and less on coronaries, strokes, and all the other health problems that are inversely proportional to our level of fitness.