alt Hacker NewsCorrect, you have identified the problem. Prices are high because there is no agent in the US system looking to allocate spending on the basis of cost and health returns. The closest we come is the much hated insurance denials.
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whimsicalism • 01/22/2025
yes, precisely my point
Its likely true that more procedures are performed and more prescriptions written, but why are those procedures and prescriptions many times more expensive?
Economies of scale should make them cheaper. An MRI machine and technician that sits there unused half the day has to charge more per visit than one used all day long. Have too many customers? Get more machines and techs, now the MRI manufacturer is making more units, offering volume discounts...
Rationing of care doesn't explain why the individual units of care are themselves much more expensive. Compare inhaler prices in Canada vs the US, $10 in Canada $100 here[0], that isn't because too many of them are given out. It's theft.
Addendum: Further, the young and healthy ration their care quite a bit under the current system, they are taxed too heavily (to pay for the care of the elderly) to afford it for themselves so they go without.
[0]https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/...