Last night BBC Newsnight's Gavin Esler had a very good report on poverty in America. What he had to say on poverty and race was covered by me and the commenters here and here and elsewhere below. It was actually when he started discussing health care that it struck me that he seems not to realize that there are economic trade-offs that every society makes with regards to economic dynamism and government provided services.
Esler used the phrase "the wealthiest country in the world" a few times when discussing the cost of health care in America. And, from his perspective - citizen of a country with a fully funded, available to all, public health system - it is amazing that so many people in the US find health care too expensive. He mentioned, but glossed over, the fact that most people who don't have health insurance in America are actually employed.
He never asked why is health insurance so expensive that so many people cannot or will not buy it. He implied that this is a failure of government not stepping in to provide health care for these people.
This is what I find annoying about the BBC and RTE. They talk about America being "the wealthiest country in the world" (is it? I guess it is.) without ever asking why is America "the wealthiest country in the world". They never seem to consider whether the economic dynamism comes from the same roots as the failure to provide health care. These are the choices that people have to make.
In Europe, the state provides all sorts of benefits that - free health care, paid maternity leave, substantial welfare, etc. - that the neither the state nor the federal government in the US provides. In Europe you have a stagnant economy with a generous safety net and in the US you have the opposite.
I can't see why in his report Esler couldn't have simply made that point, but I actually think he's unaware of the economic realities.
