In the early 1960s, when United States healthcare expenses reached 3% of GDP, members of the U.S. Congress were so outraged that they held hearings to address such an unsustainable level of spending. The passing years have shown that 3% was not only sustainable, it was cheap. Today, healthcare spending in the United States is over 17% of GDP. The countries of … [Read more...] about Can We Afford a Healthy Future?
William Savedoff
William Savedoff was Principal Health Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank. Currently, he is a Senior Partner at Social Insight.
Time to say goodbye to tobacco
12% of the world's smokers live in Latin America and the Caribbean. Every year, tobacco use contributes to the growth of non-communicable diseases and causes one million deaths in the region. So if tobacco is the most preventable cause of death, how can countries get their populations to stop smoking? … [Read more...] about Time to say goodbye to tobacco
Four reasons why labor taxes are not a good way to finance healthcare in low- and middle-income countries
The COVID-19 pandemic has led millions of people to simultaneously lose their jobs and their health coverage, making the idea of funding health insurance with labor taxes look like a pretty bad idea. Yet the flaws of labor-tax financed social health insurance are not news to people who have reviewed the history and evidence of social health insurance, as explained in a newly … [Read more...] about Four reasons why labor taxes are not a good way to finance healthcare in low- and middle-income countries