Animated Short: The Amazing Health Care Arms Race

At the crossroads of our national debate about jobs and our national debate about health care debt…

Is the (fictional) city of Hobbs. Its mayor has a big problem: How will he implement his scheme to bring in good clean health care jobs when every other American city is trying to do the same? How far will he go to nab those fabled ‘medical tourists’? And what will the ensuing medical arms race mean for insurance premiums and taxes?

In this animated short illustrated by Adam Cole and rhymed by me, you’ll hear the story of this amazing health care arms race that’s unfolding in cities across America.

Tonight on Marketplace, I tell a real-life version of this story from the suburbs of Detroit. The story asks the question: Can local politics influence hospitals to over-expand — driving up insurance premiums and taxes, and even creating a health care jobs bubble?

Check out some of the latest numbers on health care and jobs in The Health Care Economy Index.

And with that, enough talk. Watch the short already. And please let us know what you think.