Commentary
What If America Already Spends Enough on Healthcare?
We spend $5.3 trillion a year on healthcare. Before we argue about what we can’t afford, maybe we should ask what we could build with the money we’re already spending.
Key finding
The central policy question is not simply what universal healthcare would cost, but whether America can reorganize the $5.3 trillion it already spends to provide a meaningful universal floor without eliminating private choice.
This article was originally published on Substack.
What the evidence shows
- The United States already spends $5.3 trillion annually on healthcare, creating room to ask whether existing spending could be reorganized around universal coverage.
- Universal coverage can coexist with private insurance and private providers; other countries use multiple designs rather than a single government-run model.
What it does not show
- This opening article does not establish that any specific universal healthcare design would succeed in the United States.
- International examples do not eliminate tradeoffs involving wait times, workforce capacity, provider payments, rural hospitals, or out-of-pocket costs.