The US health care debate plugs along as we consider who gets what. We wonder what the plan of the day means to “me.” The US Constitution does not guarantee health care, but, as a Christian, I note the Bible says we should care for the sick and poor around us. “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my people not been restored?” (Jeremiah 8:22)
Even as a non-Christian nation, our tacit social compact says we should we should care for the sick.
Let me compare our health care system with that of Saudi Arabia. I emphasize I am not a health care economist and that the the statistics I show may be subject to question. But I have been a physician for almost fifty years.
Article 31 of the Saudi constitution guarantees free health care to its citizens. The Kingdom has a three-tiered system of public health care (primary, secondary, and specialty) that is designed to deliver services to all its citizens. The specialty level services are much like our ours, including high tech cardiovascular care and bone transplant for cancer. In addition, there is a private system providing care to those who desire it. A private MRI in Saudi Arabia might cost $500. In the US the cost is about three times as much, at best.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person in Saudi Arabia is $55,000. In the US the GDP per person is a comparable $57,000. In the US the total health expenditure per person is $9403. In Saudi Arabia it is $2466 (stats from WHO). We pay four times as much with the same GDP per person for the same coverage. Huh?
I am not saying everything is great in Saudi Arabia. Our infant mortality rate is 5.82/1000, and theirs is 13.48/1000. Why is theirs so bad? This may be related to cultural and geographic differences (i.e. bedouins in outlying areas.)
As an additional note, Kuwait has a similar system to Saudi Arabia with a GDP/person of $72,000 and a health care cost/person of $2320. Due to their smaller size and more homogenous population, their infant mortality rate is comparable to ours, 7.66/1000.
So, we are paying four times as much per person as the the rich Middle Eastern countries for comparable health care. Are we greedy or stupid?
