Obama and others have indicated that the growth in Medical Care is unsustainable. I am sure that all here are familiar with these
statements. I looked at health care employment by occupation and by
sector to see from where we might move people if the nation decided
it needed more health care employees.The entire health
care system employs 16.5 million people.
About ten million of these are actually doing health care such as technicians,
nurses aids, registered nurses and of course physicians.
By comparison, retail trade is 15,000,000 and restaurants employ 9.6 million
people.
All types of government from localities to states
to the federal government employ only 10,000,000 people.
Briefly, I look at statistics on the amount of money we are spending on
medical device manufacturers and our balance of trade in this important
area.
Obama says that the health care system is not sustainable.
In his speech before the American medical Associaton, he said,
"And it [health care costs] are unsustainable for the United States of
America"
I decided
to look by employment to see if this was the case. The entire health
care system employs 16.5 million people.
About ten million of these are actually doing health care such as technicians,
nurses aids, registered nurses and of course physicians.
The rest is overhead of various kinds.
By comparison retail trade is 15,000,000 and restaurants employ 9.6 million
people.
All types of government from localities to states
to the federal government employ only 10,000,000 people.
I also look at employment by type, 28,000,000 are office/administrative
workers.
We have about half a million physicians and half a million lawyers.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, here are the numbers in
some sectors:
Health Care 16,499,250
Of these 5,4 million are doctors, nurses, technicians pharmacists
3,3 million are less skilled workers such as nurses aides/ physical ther aids
Those are the ones actually doing the work
Office and administrative are two million in this zone
Finance and Insurance 6,000,000
Retail Trade 15,000,000
Legal Services 1,100,000
Accomodation such as Hotels, Motels and Rooming Services are 1.862 million
Restaurants and other food services 9,6 million
Personal care Services (which include funerals, drycleaning and presumably
barbers, massages, cosmetologists) are
1,200,000
Gambling 147,120
Amusement Services 1,113,480 (includes bowling, golf courses,
fitness centers, skiing facility, golf cou)
Religious Organizations 185,860
Government (Fed, state, 9,700,000
local)
And here are some statistics by occupation
Health Care 16,499,250
Of these 5,4 million are doctors, nurses, technicians pharmacists
3,3 million are less skilled workers such as nurses aides/ physical ther aids
Those are the ones actually doing the work
Office and administrative are two million in this zone
Finance and Insurance 6,000,000
Retail Trade 15,000,000
Legal Services 1,100,000
Accomodation such as Hotels, Motels and Rooming Services are 1.862 million
Restaurants and other food services 9,6 million
Personal care Services (which include funerals, drycleaning and presumably
barbers, massages, cosmetologists) are
1,200,000
Gambling 147,120
Amusement Services 1,113,480 (includes bowling, golf courses,
fitness centers, skiing facility, golf cou)
Religious Organizations 185,860
Government (Fed, state, 9,700,000
local)
This is out of a workforce of 135,000,000.
Total shipments of "electromedical and electrotherapeutic" appartus
manufacturers in the Unites states was 164 billion per year.
I also looked at the totals of medical device imports and exports
Category M216, Scientifica nd medical machinery is 30 billion per year imports.
Tghe total for all laboratory and scientific devices is 61 billions a year.
The nation as a slight net positive balance in this area, exporting 36 billion
per year of medical and a total of 72 billion.
When we compare this to both our trade deficit, on the order of a trillion
dollars per year, and the expenditures on health care, these are not significant.