A Quick Correction
In my Bloggingheads.tv discussion with Matthew Yglesias yesterday, I casually mentioned that Americans spend 40 percent of their income on health care. The number sounded ridiculous as soon as it left my mouth. And it was! This is a peril of these sorts of off-the-cuff but public chats, I guess—not to mention of pontificating on topics outside one's primary area of expertise.
Anyway, I wasn't remotely close. The real figure looks to be between 5 and 15 percent.
Health care spending as a percentage of GDP is around 18 percent.
I'll now humbly link to my Reason colleagues' more informed work on the health care debate.