Tucson Citizen.com
Medicare and More -

Why is Health Care So Expensive in America?

by on Apr. 22, 2011, under Health

When Americans get a checkup from their doctor, they pay twice as much as people in Canada, France, and the Netherlands.  Prescription costs in the U.S. are double what the Dutch pay.  And having a baby in the U.S. is double the cost of giving birth in Germany.

In the U.S. we spend twice as much on health care per capita each year than other developed countries – and yet we come in last in outcomes such as: quality of care, equity, efficiency, and people living long, healthy lives.

The following graphic comes from medicalbillingandcoding.org
Why Your Stitches Cost $1,500 - Part One
Via: Medical Billing And Coding</a

This entry was posted on Friday, April 22nd, 2011 at 8:08 am and is filed under Health. Tags for this post: , , , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

RSS feed for this post (comments)
  • aikanae

    Look at Plan D. It was a windfall for the drug companies, manufactured a whole new class of insurers (with all their paperwork) and raised drug prices for everyone by 60% since it passed. It’s still a confusing mess. Out of 45 different companies offerring plans, there were only 5 major corporations behind them. That’s not much “competition”. 

    Oh yea and they need LESS regulation…???

  • http://medicalbilldetectives.com Bruce Bonner

    I can answer this question in one word……….lawsuits

  • medicareblogger

    From everything I’ve read, malpractice insurance and threats of lawsuits are a minor cost in the overall picture. Having said that, I can believe that doctors prescribe more tests than are necessary to avoid possible lawsuits.  For example, a child fall and hits his head and end up in the Emergency Room. An MRI might not be warranted, but doctors might want one just to be sure there is internal bleeding. An MRI costs over $1,000. This might be an unnecessary expense.
    If the youngster goes to his primary care physician, and the physician wants an MRI done, the doctor must get prior authorization from the patient’s insurance company. The insurance company can deny the request.  The doctor is covered in this case, but I wonder….Do insurance companies have malpractice insurance?  I don’t  think so.

  • http://tucsoncitizen.com/tucson-tails karyn

    We pay so much because pharmaceutical drug lords must make billions in bonuses.
    We also pay too much because of all the unnecessary tests.
    A few years ago I went to the podiatrist. I had a bad toenail that a pedicure wouldn’t solve. Even though have minimal health care with a high deductible and pay through the nose since I’m self employed, I told them I didn’t have health insurance and paid a flat rate with my credit card.
    The doctor saw my feet and freaked out saying that I needed a bunch of tests. She spent 5 minutes telling me what horrible condition my feet were in and why I needed this battery of tests. After she finished I said, “I don’t have any health insurance.”  (I lied)  She said, “Oh!” and stormed out of the room and the assistant fixed my problem which has not returned.
    Since then I have had no problems with my feet and I use them every day.
    I believe because she thought my health insurance would pay for these tests, she prescribed them. That’s why health insurance is so damn high!
     

  • nobody

    The health care system and pharmaceutical companies are just as corrupt in every country of the world.  There is no where that businessmen and investors don’t make huge profits from the medical care industry and the associated insurance companies which are controlled by the same people.  The envelope has just been pushed further in the US.  These prices are 10 to 100 times what they should reasonably be.   We shouldn’t even be comparing to other countries to fix this.  We should demand an accounting for every penny charged and require the cost justified. 

  • nobody

    And behind your 5 major corporations is one small group of good’ol’boys laughing at everyone.

«
»