another graph

[Azazello1313]

for pets

 

kind of interesting. here's the whole article.

 

As I noted in a previous post, the Obama administration has pegged healthcare cost growth as the largest threat to the federal budget. David Brooks takes up this argument in the New York Times, urging us to “Whip Inflation Now.”

 

I argued that the U.S. rate of healthcare cost growth hasn’t been radically higher than other countries’ in recent years and that there are some good reasons we would want to spend more on healthcare. Among these are rising incomes, which make health spending more attractive relative to other goods and services, and new technologies, which give us something to spend those rising incomes on.

 

The same factors impact healthcare services for our pets. And unlike human healthcare, veterinary care has almost no government provision and very little insurance. In other words, almost all health spending on Fido is paid out of pocket.

 

And yet we continue to spend more.

[Ursa Majoris]

So you argue that an increase from $4 billion to $11 billion over 22 years is the same as an increase from $800 billion to $2,000 billion over the same period?

 

That's like saying xx percentage increase in the cost of dental floss has the same pocketbook effect as the same percentage increase in the cost of an airliner. There are lies, damned lies and statistics - percentages can be used for all sorts of arguments and this is one of the silliest.

[Azazello1313]

So you argue that an increase from $4 billion to $11 billion over 22 years is the same as an increase from $800 billion to $2,000 billion over the same period?

 

That's like saying xx percentage increase in the cost of dental floss has the same pocketbook effect as the same percentage increase in the cost of an airliner. There are lies, damned lies and statistics - percentages can be used for all sorts of arguments and this is one of the silliest.

 

umm, if the point of the comparison were to say they have the same "pocketbook effect", you would have a reasonable argument here. but that is obviously not even remotely the point. what is interesting is that they have increased in lockstep at the same rate, much higher than inflation, and probably for many of the same reasons.