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rootusrootustoday at 12:19 AM1 replyview on HN

Healthcare is expensive because we buy fancy airplanes? It seems at least as likely to do with the incredibly high salaries we pay doctors. And the fact that we use like 50% more healthcare services than a typical single-payer society.


Replies

smcintoday at 12:52 AM

What's your source for claiming "[the US] uses like 50% more healthcare services than a typical single-payer society"?

Personal take-home pay for physicians is 8-10% of total US healthcare spending ($5tr). (or 20%/$1.11t for "physician and clinical services" overall which includes doctors, clinical staff, admin, and overhead costs.)

US total spending on pharmaceuticals is $1 tr; net spending on outpatient prescription drugs is $600b.

The DoD's total spending is $961.6b for FY 2026.

There's little argument against reforming both military spending and healthcare spending in the US, but (as Scott Galloway says) it's awfully hard to find a prominent politician who vocally supports reforming both these (not one at the expense of the other). So, the out-of-control spending/borrowing will continue.

Anyway, as to this crash, all other considerations apart, E/A-18Gs (electronic warfare planes) cost 60% more than F-18s. Who authorized flying them in an airshow?