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Other countries also have old people, and I don't have any reason to think that doctors and hospitals are more expensive in the USA than they are elsewhere.
by ori_b 14y ago
Other countries also have old people, and I don't have any reason to think that doctors and hospitals are more expensive in the USA than they are elsewhere.
- rayiner 14y ago> I don't have any reason to think that doctors and hospitals are more expensive in the USA than they are elsewhere They definitely are. Doctors in the U.S. make more money. Drugs are more expensive, partially because the U.S. subsidizes R&D for everyone else. Hospital construction in the U.S. is insane in the major systems. They're "spare no expense" affairs, very different from the utilitarian facilities you used to find in the U.S. in say the 1970's and which you still find in the U.S. today.
- yardie 14y agoDoctors in the U.S. make more money. No, not really. My american, pediatrician drove a beat up Subaru. Doctors is a pretty big field that covers GPs (PCPs in the US), surgeons, anaesthesiologist, etc. Surgeons make a lot of money in the US and everywhere, but your typical GP is not ballin'. I'd even say doctors in other western countries make more because no student loans and no malpractice insurance means their take home pay is higher. Drugs are more expensive, partially because the U.S. subsidizes R&D for everyone else. This list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pharmaceutical_companies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pharmaceutical_companie... has the top 2 drug companies being in the US and 3rd, 4th, and 5th are european. The US does subsidize the worlds R&D in erectile dysfunction research ;-). There are plenty of drugs that have been approved elsewhere that haven't been seen in the US.
- tptacek 14y agoDon't bring an anecdote to a gun fight, or something like that: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/how-much-do-doctors-in-other-countries-make/ http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/how-much-do-doc... (US GPs make sharply more than those in Europe).
- yardie 14y agoAnd as pointed out in the last paragraph. The table excludes cost of education and malpractice insurance.
- wglb 14y agotptacke's comment notwithstanding, I have a pediatrician friend who points out that among doctors, pediatricians are the lowest paid. This might be biasing your anecdote here.