There are some things that are expensive about the U.S. healthcare system that are totally unnecessary - for instance the epidemic in prescription painkillers o

There are some things that are expensive about the U.S. healthcare system that are totally unnecessary - for instance the epidemic in prescription painkillers of the opium variety - tens of millions of Americans are hooked on those things. The expense here is not the main problem, it is the millions of lives ruined by big pharma. There are other curious upsells that go on in U.S. healthcare, e.g. off-label prescriptions. That does not happen in Europe as the incentive is not there, the hospital/doctor is not profit motivated to get their patient on the hard drugs, as per the U.S. situation. Expense begins at birth if you are male - when medical staff get paid for circumcisions then they happen, in Europe there is not this financial imperative so the only people getting themselves circumcised are doing so for religious or actual medical reasons, not just because it is an upsell from the hospital. The more I find out about U.S. healthcare the leas I see it as that.