3 ms·

I would suggest a slight shift in wording from "how much medical care actually costs" to "how much medical care actually bills" since as we've seen both by exam

• tzs 4y ago
  It's probably more complicated than that. When you compare US costs to countries like the UK, France, Germany, Japan, and similar it is indeed true that US is significantly more expensive. It is also true that over time US costs are rising significantly. However, the ratio of US costs to the costs of other countries has stayed roughly the same over time. In other words, the rest of them are having the same problem of rising costs that the US is, and their costs are rising at roughly the same rate. We pay a lot more than they do now because we paid a lot more than them a long time ago. This is worrisome, because it suggests that even if we can lower our health care costs to be in line with the rest of the developed world we are still heading for unaffordable healthcare--all we'd be doing is making so we reach that when the rest of the world does instead of a few years before they do. Here's some comments from earlier discussions with numbers and a link to the data [1] [2]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32744920 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32744920 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29768484 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29768484
  • nradov 4y ago
    The majority of healthcare spending goes toward treating patients with chronic conditions primarily caused by lifestyle factors such as overeating, lack of exercise, and substance abuse. There is effectively infinite demand for healthcare services in that population. Depending on how you count, something like 1/7 of all healthcare dollars go to type-2 diabetes and related conditions alone. There is certainly some inefficiency in the US healthcare system but mostly it reflects the poor health of the population. Switching to some form of socialized medicine won't fix that problem. Other developed countries are doing a little better at the moment but they're on the same trend line and will inevitably hit the same crisis. At some point if we want to prevent a systemic collapse we're going to have to get serious about emphasizing prevention over treatment.
  • munk-a 4y ago
    Speaking as someone intimately familiar with healthcare pricing working really close to the industry specifically in pricing tracking - I can say yes - you aren't incorrect about the fact that healthcare costs going up over time (and the sibling comment about unhealthy lifestyles also isn't incorrect) but the US does indeed have completely arbitrary pricing. As a personal anecdote when I lived in the US there were three months in a row where I paid 10/pill, 3/pill and 1/pill (I also had earlier paid 0/pill when I qualified for VT medicaid) for the same medication[1] as I was 1) initially uninsured 2) covered by the "cigna preferred rate" but otherwise had no drug coverage 3) had regular drug coverage. As a bonus a few months after that run a generic for my medication came out and I paid .10/pill for the brand name because the generic existed but they didn't have it in stock. Please explain how that makes any sense at all. 1. Concerta - the 54mg version now apparently retails for $545 per 30 here's a weird website talking about it (I now live in Canada and while there isn't Pharmacare in my province the drug is free with some cheap insurance) https://www.singlecare.com/blog/concerta-without-insurance/ https://www.singlecare.com/blog/concerta-without-insurance/