Singapore has better health outcomes with 1/5 the spending

This data point single-handedly crushes the simplistic comparisons of the U.S. to European nations who spend more with various forms of more-socialized medicine with better health outcomes.

In a word, Singapore has a freer market for health care/insurance and spends far less with better health outcomes.

Bottom line: At the end of the day, lifestyles provide a far more compelling, primary explanation-- than the composition of the health care system.

Here's Rowan Callick in The American...

Americans have grown used to buying every kind of product from overseas. So why not “buy” foreign ideas or social institutions? Why, for instance, hasn’t the United States adopted the same healthcare system as Europe, Canada, and nearly all the rest of the developed world?

While the United States is portrayed as the outlier, the truth is that another developed nation has eschewed the European government-payer model—with a great deal of success. That nation is Singapore, a city-state with a population of just 4.6 million but a lot to teach America.

Singaporeans are considerably healthier than Americans, yet pay, per person, about one-fifth of what Americans pay for their healthcare. A major reason is that Singapore’s system does not focus on the question that seems to preoccupy both Europe and America: who pays? Ultimately, whoever signs the checks, the money comes out of the pockets of individuals....

The World Health Organization’s most recent full report on global health statistics says the United States spends 15.4 percent of its GDP on healthcare, while Singapore spends just 3.7 percent.

What’s the reason for Singapore’s success? It’s not government spending. The state, using taxes, funds only about one-fourth of Singapore’s total health costs [vs. half in the U.S.].... Singapore’s government spends only $381 (all dollars in this article are U.S.) per capita on health—or one-seventh what the U.S. government spends.

Singapore’s system requires individuals to take responsibility for their own health, and for much of their own spending on medical care....The state’s role is to provide a safety net for the few people unable to save enough to pay their way, to subsidize public hospitals, and to fund preventative health campaigns....

The People’s Action Party has ruled Singapore since the British left, and is led today by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the son of founder Lee Kuan Yew. It calls the health system it has put in place the “3M” framework: Medisave, Medishield, and Medifund.

Click here for more details on the 3M's...