6 ms·

> It's not huge. It's massive. Healthcare is byzantine on purpose. It's opaque to patients so that providers can prevent shopping around and adjust charges per

• tptacek 7y ago
  You're saying "it's massive" and, in, like absolute terms, sure, it is; everything we do is massive, we're a huge country. But in relative terms? No. It's not massive. It's a small fraction of our total costs. The total benefits we can reap from minimizing it? Not that great. Ambitious plans based on minimizing those costs? You should be skeptical. You should be asking: how are we going to solve this huge problem by zeroing in on such a small fraction of the total problem? Maybe the answer will surprise you, but you should start by needing to be surprised by the answer.
  • burnte 7y ago
    Yes, in relative terms it's a large percentage. I work in this business, I see it every day. It's a HUGE chunk. Nationwide out of the 3.5 trillion we spend on healthcare, it's about 800 million.