No. of Recommendations: 10
U.S. health care is the most expensive in the developed world and the price point is only rising.
I am pretty sure I have this figured out. When I did a little research on the subject, both book learned and observational, I found:
Doctors in the US are paid significantly more than in Canada or the EU: half again as much as Canadian doctors, and double, even triple the salaries of doctors in the EU.
We have more layers of rent seekers in the US: from private insurance companies to labs associated with doctors’ practices, not to mention lawyers, all seeking a bit of the health care dollar.
I have also noticed that every single one of my health care providers - and at my age I now have several (GP, Urologist, Dermatologist, Eye, etc.) have spanking new facilities, shiny equipment, newly painted walls, gleaming tile floors. OK, I am not advocating that hospitals and doctors offices should have grimy hallways, it’s just interesting to me how “new” and “gorgeous” all the buildings are for anything medical, as opposed to even luxury retail or elsewhere.
Everything, and I mean everything, is disposable now. I used to lay on a sheet, get a cloth wrap to keep me warm: now it’s all paper. The doctors unwrap every tool and toss the packaging in the trash like MJ dunking a slam at Home Court.
I’m not sure how you get ahead of this trend without a lot of pain and anguish, but explaining the cost side is easy. Explaining why the results aren’t better than other systems in advanced countries, maybe not quite so simple.
