3 ms·
> Specifically, physician salaries plus diagnostic tests comprise 4.04% of GDP in the US, compared to only 2.3% in the UK. https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc
by Zach_the_Lizard 7y ago
> Specifically, physician salaries plus diagnostic tests comprise 4.04% of GDP in the US, compared to only 2.3% in the UK.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014292120300337 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001429212...
If you read more, I believe diagnostic testing comes out to 0.5% of GDP in the UK vs. 2% of GDP in the US, a far bigger effect than the difference in salaries.
So yes, there is some indication that lawsuits can lead to more tests and thus wildly higher testing costs.
I wonder if this is also leading to doctors to favoring newer medications that should be "the best" versus cheaper generics that would be more cost effective for a particular ailment.
Speaking of which, the way drug approvals and patents work also increases costs, and there are perhaps some small tweaks like permitting foreign first-world drug approvals to count in the US as well that might also help keep a lid on costs.