Bill’s By The Number$

Posted by: Lisa Navarro | Posted on: December 21st, 2020 | 0 Comments

ALL THE OTHER STUFF – Administrative costs make up 34% of total US health care expenditures (i.e., expenses not related to direct patient care) including medical billing, the scheduling of appointments, and hiring of an office staff (source: Annals of Internal Medicine). # 11, 1/13/20.

ADVANTAGE: SELLERS – The number of existing single-family homes for sale has been tracked nationally since July 1982, i.e., for nearly 4 decades. The total peaked in July 2007 at 3.4 million but has now fallen to its all-time low of 1.22 million in December 2019 (source: National Association of Realtors). # 7, 1/27/20.

MILLIONS DIED – The most lethal health epidemic in the last 500 years was the worldwide flu outbreak that occurred in the fall of 1918 that killed 50 million people globally, including 675,000 Americans. 195,000 Americans died in October 1918, the deadliest month in our nation’s history (source: CDC). # 14, 2/24/20.

THE SICKEST AMONG US – Just 1% of the US population is responsible for 22% of total health care spending in the country, i.e., 1% of our 329 million population (3.3 million people) create $800 billion of health care expenses or an average of $242,000 per person per year (source: Brookings). # 9, 3/16/20.

NO JOB – First-time jobless claims for the week ending 2/01/20 were 201,000, its lowest level since 11/15/69. Just 7 weeks later, jobless claims for the week ending 3/21/20 were 3.283 million, a US record (source: Department of Labor). # 8, 3/30/20.

YOUR LIFE – If you were born in 1987 and you turn age 33 in 2020, you have lived through 5 bear markets and 3 recessions, the 1987 “Black Monday” stock market crash, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the 2008 global real estate crisis, and now the 2020 pandemic. You have also lived through 4 bull markets (including the 11-year bull that ended on 2/19/20), 4 economic expansions and you have benefited from the lowest interest rates in history. Your life expectancy as of today: 47.3 additional years on earth (source: BTN Research). # 3, 4/13/20.

RAINING NOW – All 50 US states maintain a “rainy day” fund that may be accessed as a result of an economic emergency. As of 7/01/19, California had $19.2 billion set aside, Texas had $7.8 billion, New York had $2.5 billion while Illinois had just $4 million (source: National Association of State Budget Officers). # 5, 4/20/20.

JUST HERE FOR THE DAY – 48% of hospital revenue in 2018 came from outpatient procedures (source: Deloitte Center for Health Solutions). # 9, 5/11/20.

ALL FOR EXACTLY THE SAME SERVICES – Private US health insurance pays on average $241 for health care services for every $100 that Medicare pays and for every $72 that Medicaid pays (source: RAND, Health Affairs). # 12, 5/25/20.

OUT OF THIN AIR – From the end of 2008 to the end of 2010, the Fed “digitally created” $1.4 trillion of new money that was used to purchase Treasury bonds as part of its “Quantitative Easing” program. From Thursday 3/12/20 through Friday 6/12/20, the Fed “digitally created” $2.9 trillion of new money that was used to purchase Treasury bonds and corporate bonds (source: Federal Reserve). # 5, 6/22/20.

PRINTING TOO MUCH? – Some, but not all economists, feared that our “digital creation” of money in 2008-14 and again in 2020 could lead to hyperinflation, something that occurred in Germany in 1921-23, in Argentina in 1975-1990, and in Zimbabwe in 2007-09 (source: BTN Research). # 13, 6/29/20.

YOU WANT A DISCOUNT? – The schools with the 4 largest college endowments in the United States – Harvard, University of Texas, Yale and Stanford – increased the cost of tuition for their undergraduates for the 2020-21 school year (source: MarketWatch). # 12, 9/14/20.

BAYOU MISERY – 4 of the 10 tropical storms or hurricanes that made landfall in the USA in 2020 – Cristobal, Laura, Marco and Delta – made landfall in Louisiana. The 10 tropical storms or hurricanes to make US landfall broke the record of 9 set in 1916 or 104 years earlier (source: Insurance Information Institute). # 14, 10/19/20.

WE VOTED! – An estimated 159.8 million Americans voted in the 2020 presidential race, representing 66.8% of the 239.2 million “voting-eligible” Americans. The 159.8 million voters are an all-time US record and the 66.8% is the highest “percentage turnout” in 120 years (source: NBC News). # 3, 11/09/20.

ONE-PERCENTERS – To rank in the top 1% of US taxpayers for the 2018 tax year required adjusted gross income (AGI) of at least $540,009. That highly paid group received 21% of all AGI reported nationwide but they also paid 40% of the federal income tax that was collected (source: Internal Revenue Service). # 6, 12/14/20.