5 ms·
Those graphs are terrible. Why bother comparing the USA's 95th-percentile prices to the average price of other countries? And why refuse to show any countries
by Strang 14y ago
Those graphs are terrible. Why bother comparing the USA's 95th-percentile prices to the average price of other countries? And why refuse to show any countries that are more expensive than the USA in any category? Very ham-fisted.
- chucknelson 14y agoI had the same feeling. A pretty typical case of data being carefully selected and presented to fit the argument, rather than presenting an objective view of things.
- jff 14y agoWell, hey, it's exactly what the title advertises: "21 graphs that show America’s health-care prices are ludicrous". Objective? Unbiased? No guarantees are made :)
- ThomPete 14y agoYou will not in the western world find any country that are more expensive than the american system as far as I am aware.
- acadien 14y agoThat's beside the point. The graphs are misleading. If the author simply let the data speak for itself, instead of biasing the visuals, it would be much more effective.
- ThomPete 14y agoIf there isn't any other country that is more expensive how is that besides the point? Another way to interpret the different numbers could also be simply a question of availability.
- seanmcdirmid 14y agoChina is probably more expensive at the high-end when considering bribes. But it does nothing to invalidate this chart.
- GFischer 14y agoI doubt it, I've heard of other peoples' experiences with bribes (not China), and they're FAR less than an average U.S. treatment.
- seanmcdirmid 14y agoThe medical system in China is severely underfunded while prices are fixed by the government that don't much these funding levels. Its kind of a mess. For private healthcare without bribes in China, the prices are way more expensive than the states...but what choice do we have? At least I have insurance. Anyways, my experience is only in China.
- anigbrowl 14y agoYou read the part where they explained this decision, yes?
- ricardobeat 14y agoOr in the eastern.
- blahedo 14y agoDid you read the caption? The claim is that in other countries the variance is extremely small. You could dispute that claim, perhaps, but that's not what you've done here. (My objection to the graphs is that the bars are for 25-50-95th percentile, which is difficult to interpret. I'd rather they just gave a four-part 25-50-75-100, or at least a 25-50-75-95 if they can't reliably establish an upper bound, or maybe 5-50-95. Any of those would be easier to intuit.)
- rbehrends 14y agoBecause there simply isn't that much variation in prices elsewhere. In fact, in many countries there will be exactly one price for any given treatment. For example, in Switzerland, each treatment etc. is assigned a specific number of fee points (Taxpunkte). This is multiplied by a conversion factor to arrive at the cost of the treatment that a doctor can bill your insurance. And that's that. Unless the treatment allows for variations, it will always cost the same. This should not really be surprising: There is no reason for a single payer system (or a system that's equivalent to single payer) to have multiple prices for one and the same thing. The whole point of single payer systems is that the single payer has the bargaining power to negotiate the most efficient price up front. Paying more than that without need would be a waste of money.
- notimetorelax 14y agoProvided that your insurance is LAMal. I have Uniqa and private hospitals can charge me whatever they feel like. Uniqa has agreements with some private hospitals, so in the end it's not that bad.