English Literature Isn’t Brain Surgery: Why is American medicine so expensive?

Wall Street Journal ^ | April 23, 2018 | Chris Pope and Tim Rice

[Mom MD]

And American drug companies footing the bill for R and D of new medications. Only 1 in 10 drugs ever make it to market and the FDA testing and trials cost untold millions. Finally get a drug to market and within a year there will be commercials by lawyers all over the media offering a big pay day for those that have side effects.
Once we have undertaken the cost other countries can produce the finished product for pennies.....

[vooch]

European MDs are consistently rated higher in quality than US MDs.

The last comprehensive study about 20 years ago showed US MDs dead last among developed world.

I have used European systems for emergencies while traveling on business. Light years ahead of US in terms of quality. It’s not even close

and 1/4 the cost

[AppyPappy]

Yep. When governments take over health care and start paying for it, the first thing they do is cap malpractice awards.

[puppypusher]

Cost shifting from those who pay for their health care to those who don’t.

If it were not for the invasion of illegal Sloan’s in this country there would have been no need for Obama Care.

Build the Damned wall and deport all of these illegals.

[CharleysPride]

Less time in college means a twenty three year old, immature, douche-bag doctor.

Maybe you’re happy with some pouty millenial cutting into you, I’d prefer doctors with a little more seasoning.

[Basket_of_Deplorables]

Trial lawyers.

[PGR88]

The AMA has a direct interest in keeping the supply of doctors limited.

[j.argese]

"Yeah, we all want some Muslim treating us."

I'm alive today thanks to some Muslim neurosurgeon. He didn't ask me if I believed in God. I wasn't in any shape to ask him about his theology.

[from occupied ga]

Much of this education, especially courses required for a bachelor’s degree, has little to do with medicine. In the U.S., aspiring physicians must spend four years in college before med school (another four years) and then residencies.

The bulk of the training time is in residency. A surgeon who specializes in some fields of surgery can spend as much as 8 years after graduating from medical school between a minimum of 5 years for general surgery residency and then adding the specialized residencies of 2 - 4 years. College is a screening tool to determine who is most likely to succeed - being a physician is not an easy life.

[Verginius Rufus]

My father had a doctor who was from Pakistan who was a very good man and an excellent physician. I don’t know if he was still a Muslim. Unfortunately he died of cancer and the next doctor my father had wasn’t as satisfactory.

[SkyDancer]

Because socialistic countries tax everyone to pay for it; they think it’s low cost or free but it’s not. Then the nitwits in the US complain about how low cost or free it is there and not here. It’s all government subsidized with taxpayers money.

[Gay State Conservative]

Thanks to lawyers your typical earache now requires unnecessary tests galore! Defensive medicine.Get the damn lawyers out of health care and costs will plummet.

[neverevergiveup]

With all due respect, this is not even remotely true. I've trained medical students and residents from Europe and all over the world - when they were doing rotations in the US. I've also been to many countries as a physician and seen their medical systems and interacted with their physicians, and have worked with many foreign and European trained physicians in the US. The US is without a doubt the best medical system in the world - and remains so despite the attempts of the US government and liberals to ruin it.

You write about traveling for business. CEOs in the US make more than twice as much as those in Germany, and the ratio of CEO salaries to workers salaries in the US are 354 to 1 vs 147 to one in Germany (from Forbes). Salaries for businessmen and management are also significantly higher in the US. We could look at all the failed businesses and industries in the US over the past many decades, and say that business people are all way overpaid, and aren't as high quality as those in Germany etc.. I'm sure that would get your back up, but the reality is that there are always multiple variables involved, and making blanket statements and painting with a broad brush are not fruitful nor accurate.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

No mention of liability insurance. 80% of medical costs is liability insurance.

[Poison Pill]

This argument could be made for any kind or specialty. Really, the argument could be made for getting rid of college period. Pick a job at 16 or 17, put on the blinders and train 2-4 years for it. Fighter pilot at 18, doctor at 20. In an earlier time, this was the norm. It was called apprenticeship. That model worked better for some but now we want to push everyone into a 4 year degree. There are good reasons for non historians to know some history, but maybe the pendulum has swung too far. I still don’t want a 20 year old doctor though.

[Socon-Econ]

Well off nations with aging populations will pay a higher percentage, all else being equal. Of course all else is not equal — this thread will no doubt identify other causes of our high spending.

[Chickensoup]

Obviously, they botched even the anticipated distribution of need.

_________________

It wasn’t botched. This was the plan.

[Mom MD]

Your choice enjoy that

[ActresponsiblyinVA]

What about privacy laws. How much does that add to the costs of medical care?

[Balding_Eagle]

You may have had other doctors you’ve seen in your life too.

Do you know their religion? Probably not.

Personally, I prefer to be treated by someone whose religion doesn’t instruct them to kill me.