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Comment by thelastgallon

>it's making us in europe jealous.

I don't think there is any growth in US that Europeans have to be jealous of. Any "growth" is just more wealth for billionaires, at a high cost to individuals.

Health spending accounts for nearly one-fifth of the U.S. economy [1]. Between 2000 to 2020 health expenditure tripled from 1.4 trillion to 4 trillion, at a 4.2% annual growth rate. This is projected to accelerate, grow at 5.3% and reach 6.8 trillion by 2030. [3]

It is mostly health-care, which grows faster than the economy. Then higher rents, high cost of food, the numbers go up! Almost all sectors are monopolies/oligopolies with pricing power, they can extract more and more. Of course, the numbers will go up. But I doubt anybody is happier.

Family health insurance through work now costs $24,000 a year (note: this is just insurance, not the total cost!). Job-based health insurance are up 7% from last year: https://www.foxbusiness.com/healthcare/family-health-insuran...

A lot of new construction is hospitals. I have two new hospitals coming up where I live, in a one mile radius.

[1] https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-spe...

[2] https://www.oecd.org/health/health-spending-set-to-outpace-g...

[3] https://www.cms.gov/files/document/nhe-projections-forecast-...

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