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According to this article, malpractice costs (including the cost of defensive medicine done due to the fear of lawsuits) accounts for 2.4% of health care spendi

According to this article, malpractice costs (including the cost of defensive medicine done due to the fear of lawsuits) accounts for 2.4% of health care spending: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2010/09/07/the-true-cost-of-medical-malpractice-it-may-surprise-you/#78683f6a2ff5 https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2010/09/07/the-true-c... That’s a decent amount of money but I wouldn’t call it a big reason. One of the problems with bringing health care costs down is that there aren’t any big reasons for it, just lots and lots of little ones.

Eliezer 8y ago
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3048809/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3048809/ That was a shockingly low figure relative to what I’ve heard from friends in medicine. Looking up the original paper showed that the estimators used for that figure were very sketchy, and the authors of the paper did not claim otherwise. They were simply grasping for any estimator they could.
- Retric 8y ago
  People in Medicine overestimate these costs as they represent a much smaller fraction of total Medicine costs than they assume. EX: Their are 1.1 million doctors assuming 250k average salary it adds up around 275 billion ish which seems huge, except that’s out of 2.2 trillion in US heathcare spending. So, that’s only adds up to around 10 percent of total spending. And malpractice insurance is well below what a doctor makes on average. Pills, buildings, janitors, machines, etc all add up.
  - woolvalley 8y ago
    Well if your a doctor, %2/%10 is %20 of revenue for the doctor, which feels large. AFAIK it's doctors or their hospital that pays for malpractice insurance, so it come out of their pocket directly. They probably have stories of malpractice insurance not working that well, creating ruin for the doctors because of a relatively uncommon event, much like patients using the medical system.
amw 8y ago
You could argue that the "one big reason" is "healthcare companies exist to make a profit, not a healthier society".
- orangecat 8y ago
  You could argue that the "one big reason" is "healthcare companies exist to make a profit, not a healthier society". The same is true for food companies, software companies, and furniture companies, yet we don't see rapidly rising costs in those areas.
pseingatl 8y ago
Price health insurance coverage with and without an exclusion for the United States. Including the US will cost anywhere from3 to 5x more for the same coverage.

Eliezer 8y ago

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3048809/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3048809/ That was a shockingly low figure relative to what I’ve heard from friends in medicine. Looking up the original paper showed that the estimators used for that figure were very sketchy, and the authors of the paper did not claim otherwise. They were simply grasping for any estimator they could.

Retric 8y ago
People in Medicine overestimate these costs as they represent a much smaller fraction of total Medicine costs than they assume. EX: Their are 1.1 million doctors assuming 250k average salary it adds up around 275 billion ish which seems huge, except that’s out of 2.2 trillion in US heathcare spending. So, that’s only adds up to around 10 percent of total spending. And malpractice insurance is well below what a doctor makes on average. Pills, buildings, janitors, machines, etc all add up.
- woolvalley 8y ago
  Well if your a doctor, %2/%10 is %20 of revenue for the doctor, which feels large. AFAIK it's doctors or their hospital that pays for malpractice insurance, so it come out of their pocket directly. They probably have stories of malpractice insurance not working that well, creating ruin for the doctors because of a relatively uncommon event, much like patients using the medical system.

amw 8y ago

You could argue that the "one big reason" is "healthcare companies exist to make a profit, not a healthier society".

orangecat 8y ago
You could argue that the "one big reason" is "healthcare companies exist to make a profit, not a healthier society". The same is true for food companies, software companies, and furniture companies, yet we don't see rapidly rising costs in those areas.

pseingatl 8y ago

Price health insurance coverage with and without an exclusion for the United States. Including the US will cost anywhere from3 to 5x more for the same coverage.