Medicare vs. private insurance in one graph
(Laura D’Andrea Tyson/Center on Budget and Policy Priorites data)
In inflation-adjusted terms, Medicare spending per beneficiary increased more than 400 percent between 1969 and 2009 while private insurance premiums increased by more than 700 percent.
As Tyson goes on to say, she’s hopeful that competition could someday be part of the solution to rising health-care costs. But so far, it hasn’t worked. I make much the same point — with even more graphs — in this post.
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Ezra Klein is the editor of Wonkblog and a columnist at the Washington Post, as well as a contributor to MSNBC and Bloomberg. His work focuses on domestic and economic policymaking, as well as the political system that’s constantly screwing it up. He really likes graphs, and is on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook. E-mail him here.
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