How big is health care?

The typical pundit uses the throw-away line that the health care industry is one-sixth of the economy. Somehow that stat, although true, loses its impact; after-all, there still is five-sixths of the economy.

Let's think about it using a different set of numbers. How about the number of people employed? The 2009 Statistical Abstract includes the number of people employed in the health care industry here.

One needs to include direct writers of health and medical care, agents who write medical insurance, health care retailers, and health care manufacturers to get all the people who work in health care. That adds up to something approaching 17.5 million people.

No other segment of employer equals that number except government employees (22 million). Two that are close are manufacturing (excluding medical manufacturing) and retailing (excluding pharmacies).

So, nationalizing health care is more ambitious than nationalizing manufacturing in this country or nationalizing retail. Nationalizing health care is the equivalent of the government running all of the following retailing industries: auto sales (new and used), furniture stores, electronics stores, building material stores, food stores, gasoline retailers, clothing stores, sporting goods, stores, general retailers, miscellaneous, and all of the internet retailing.

Or nationalizing the health care industry is the equivalent of nationalizing all of the manufacturing industry. That includes: food providers, beverage, tobacco, textile, apparel, leather, wood, paper, printing, petroleum, coal, chemicals, plastics, fabricated products, machinery, computers, electrical, transportation, miscellaneous, and furniture.

Actually, manufacturing and retail (adjusted for health care workers) each have significantly fewer employees than health care. They have about 14 million employees each.

Think about it. Nationalizing health care is the equivalent of nationalizing the entire manufacturing industry of the US or the entire retailing industry of the US.