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garbawarbyesterday at 4:02 PM8 repliesview on HN

That would be a massive hit to our GDP.


Replies

bensyversonyesterday at 4:03 PM

Just think about the boost to our GDP by having healthier consumers who live longer, don't go into medical bankruptcy, and continue to buy stuff.

karakoramyesterday at 4:07 PM

In all seriousness, this would be a massive stimulus to the economy. Americans are consumers at heart. All the money saved on insurance and/or other healthcare related costs would then be spent elsewhere.

Cars, clothes, TVs, Labubu dolls. People will use the savings to buy things. In massive quantities.

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triceratopsyesterday at 4:04 PM

Not necessarily, over the long-term. That's $1 trillion more in disposable income.

ovi256yesterday at 4:05 PM

Not at all. Reducing a cost means the payer can spend the money on something else

dgellowyesterday at 4:22 PM

Are you implying you would decide to sacrifice citizens health for a few GDP points, a somewhat useful but oversimplified metric that doesn’t reflect anything tangible?

brainwadyesterday at 4:05 PM

Presumably not; the same national income would just be redistributed from shareholders to insurees (or shareholders of companies that pay for employee health insurance).

nemomarxyesterday at 4:03 PM

Think of all the insurance jobs that would be hit, too. Unfortunately we've bloated the healthcare industry to have a lot of employees

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