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Yes, insurance companies make too much, and doctors make too much, but the patients seem to make too little! That's the crux of the problem!
Insurance companies do not make enough to cover claims made in most Individual Plan markets.
They make up for it with far more lucrative group plans and especially supplemental Medicare plans, thus the same insurer who opts out of the Individual Plan Market due to losses can and does report record profits overall.
As for doctors making too much... that’s highly subjective and variable by specialty. As a return on the time and cost of education compared to other professions, not so much.
Keep in mind US support Germany’s defense and Switzerland has very high taxes on EVERYONE.
And they both take advantage of technologies and medicines developed by US.
There are a lot of pharmaceutical companies that people think of as American as apple pie, but are really foreign-owned (Sandoz, Astra Zeneca ...for example). Tax-wise, many Americans already pay as much in taxes as those "overtaxed" European countries, but don't enjoy the same benefits!
You forgot about the 10's of thousands of Americans who go to Mexico for health care. Thousands of others go to Canada, India, Thailand and elsewhere.
Did you not know this? Or are you purposely being misleading. Medical Tourism is BIG business and hospitals are being built worldwide largely JUST for Americans. Look it up.
I lost one of my twins in a Mexican NICU, at a "private hospital" after an emergency premature birth. The equipment, the facilities, the training and level of care are far superior in the United States. The doctors did their best given their limitations, I suppose. But I am absolutely positive she would have survived had she been born in the US where there is quicker turn around in labs, medicines available, etc.
Luckily, my other baby was able to be air lifted to the US for care and when he arrived the doctors here were shocked at some of the practices (as simple as where feeding tubes go -- in the mouth vs. through the nose) in Mexico which haven't been followed in the US for years.
Sure, maybe you can get some routine stuff done in Mexico for cheaper. A nose job. Some dental. But life and death situations? Trauma? NICU services? USA USA USA!!
Health care and banking are two heavily regulated industries. All the regulations prevent them from lowering the cost.
Bs our finance system is a free for all, least when it comes to the big companies. They take all the gains and leave us with the risk, healthcare isn't any better
Ah, so Chile and Cuba rely on us for national defense?? We defend Singapore, New Zealand.
Note - many of these co-called "medicines" are well known. Oxycontin, for one. The Pharma Bro brought a few to market and Theranos worked miracles (in separating people from their money).
Rick Scott, when he was at United Health Care, received the largest fines (Fraud) in the history of the USA.
No doubt we are among the worst. Other surveys have us at #37. We need giant foam fingers that say "we're number #37".
The proof is in the pudding.
We get the least for the most. Most Americans who have had vast experience with our health care system agree. Heck, my doctor friends agree.
Many people are killed by "medicines"....maybe a bit more slowly, but they are not the answer to good health. The US consumes the most opiates in the world - by far. Obesity and poor diet and stress drive the other medicines.
Hey, they even came up with one for "restless leg syndrome".
You also forgot to mention that the US Pharma industry is very focused on stuff that will sell BIG - that means they don't spend much time or energy on stuff that only applies to a couple hundred thousand people (even if they have a horrible disease).
Note - I am not discounting true breakthroughs in the USA. Salk was my hero. But if that was today, they'd withhold the vaccine from people and make them pay through the nose for it. Back then, when asked about patenting the drugs, Salk replied "What? You cannot patent this and you cannot patent the Sun"...
I would say we have come a long way backwards in our thinking.
It IS a matter of money. At almost 11K per person per year we are being ripped off - let alone the uninsured that we all have to pay for. We will NEVER get our deficit and debt down without going to a highly regulated universal health care AND also blending in the other elements (eating, lifestyle, exercise, pollutants, etc.).
Rick Scott was CEO of Columbia/ HCA Healthcare Systems ( not United Healthcare) when a Federal investigation became public. Scott resigned 4 mo this later. Eventually, Columbia/ HCA agreed to a settlement of $1.7 billion for Medicaid/ Medicare fraud. While this was a record at the time, pharmecutical settlements have trumped it.
tell that yo our canadian buddies that drive over the border with cash to get their surgeries completed here
When you look at the detail, the US scores well in wait times for specialists, one of several metrics of the study. That 73% of US MDs are specialists may have something to do with this.
No shortage of US people cross into Canada for lower cost medications.
Bs our finance system is a free for all, least when it comes to the big companies. They take all the gains and leave us with the risk, healthcare isn't any better
I wonder how we scored on people from other countries bringing their sick here to cure problems that couldn't be done in their own countries.
Not one of the metrics of the study.
Medical tourism is alive and well in many countries. Some countries do better with certain medical conditions than others. One of the healthcare systems getting a lot of international attention is Health City on Grand Cayman where nearly all patients are not Cayman Island nationals.
They have rewritten the book on open heart surgery.
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