Why is US healthcare 5 times more expensive?!


Question: Why is US healthcare 5 times more expensive.?
My brother's wife used to live in US. Her mother paid $45 000 to have a gall stone removed. She had exactly the same operation in Australia at a cost of $9 000. (Australian dollars, which are worth less than US dollars and about 20 years later when the "real value" of $9 000 was less than it would have been 20 years ago).

Everyone talks about the pros and cons about universal government healthcare vs privatised system but it seems to me the main problem is simply the cost of it. It seems the government can't provide universal health care subsidised by taxpayers as they do in other countries because the high cost of it means taxes would have to rise to a politically unacceptable level.

Perhaps it is partly due to having greater research to have the best techniques but when the cost is this much higher it seems to defeat the purpose as it becomes unaffordable.

She also said public hospitals in America are terrible and no-one in their right mind would use them due to risk of being assaulted, robbed etc. Is that true.?Health Question & Answer


Answers:
Doctors have big egos, expect their pockets to bulge with $$$'s, and won't risk losing their hefty income for even a short time by sticking their necks out for patients who are being jerked around by an even greedier pharmaceutical and insurance industry. If all doctors would protest, these industries would have to bend or they'd lose the doctors they depend on.

But doctors no longer make the decisions regarding what drugs or treatment you or I get - insurance companies have the ultimate say, and of course, whatever drug is being pushed by big pharma as their latest and greatest cure. Doctors are essentially drug pushers anymore.

I used to sympathize with doctors, but change isn't going to start with me - he's the one who ultimately tries to get all lovey-dovey with insurance companies by keeping them happy. What he should be doing is angering them, over and over again - until they change.

I don't buy the malpractice explanation either. I have chronic Lyme and have spent the last 2 years having to beg, scream, and CLAW for antibiotics - even with a CDC positive result - after figuring it out myself, no less.

I ended up with endocarditis, an emaciated 88lbs before I figured out it was Lyme, yet my trips to lawyers tell me nobody is responsible for the hell I went through.

So a high price for substandard care.
Health Question & Answer

It's actually quite simple. The drug companies and health care companies all contribute heavily to politicians and they make the laws.

Americans are now one of the most unhealthy people living on this earth. We rank 45th in longevity. 44 countries have people living longer than Americans.

Chemotherapy has a 2.1% cure rate using the 5 year survival rating. Does that sound like a good "cure" to you.? Breast cancer is only 1.4%, yet look at the high cost of this abuse and how it is promoted. Do you actually believe giving this job to the government would make things better.? Look at social security and that is a no brainer. Everyone contributes, you get a check in the end if you survive. It's bankrupt and the government is to blame.

good luck

Health Question & Answer

Half of the cost of medical care in this country is Liability Insurance.
More than that in"high risk" practices (obstetrics).
Part of the reason for this is that Tort Lawyers, like former presidential candidate John Edwards will sue Doctors, Hospitals, Drug companies and even Health plans for ANY damage real or perceived. And Courts and juries that give out awards that make the national debt look like pocket change.
Tort reform will cut medical costs in HALF.Health Question & Answer

People don't get assaulted in hospitals.

The cost is so high because of medical mal-practice insurance. My dad does high risk obstetrics. He has to carry 100 million dollars in insurance not because he's a bad doctor, but because he MIGHT get sued.

The cash to pay the premium on 100 million dollar policy has to come from somewhere.Health Question & Answer

Hospitals in the U.S. are jacked up - they ran my *** through x-rays, ct scans, and IVs when all I needed were meds for my condition. Cost me $5,900 more than it ever should and I had textbook symptoms. Seriously though, I was expecting a bill of $400 tops for what I had.Health Question & Answer

because everything in this country is a rip off. All people care about is money. Dr.'s have to pay back a zillion when they graduate so they charge pt's zillions. Other companies want to make a profit and rip people off too. THIS SUCKS!Health Question & Answer

Hmmm havent noticedHealth Question & Answer

Capitalism.Health Question & Answer

Apparently there isn't enough doctors in the USHealth Question & Answer

because US Doctors' egos are 5 times more biggerHealth Question & Answer

Every one come down to the UK!!!! Free health care plus so many trainee doctors there every where!!!

Plus were having a PartAy!!! Nxt Week!!! your all invited!!!!lol

(^^,)
DJ AylaHealth Question & Answer

Move to England....Its free :)))))Health Question & Answer

I had my gall bladder out a few years ago in the US and it was not nearly that expensive. But in answer to your questions US MD's are used to living very high on the hog, most of them are arrogant, expect that they should have tons of money for what they do and beautiful women chasing them. Now over the past several years the big CEO's @ the insurance companies have decided that it is a bunch of B.S. for the Dr.s to have all the money and booty, so they have started putting more limits and restrictions on what they will pay and getting HUGE bonuses for doing so. So now the Dr.s have to bill more for the things they are allowed to do and there ya go. All of us little people get screwed in the process of their greediness. That being said...not ALL Doc's are that way...I have worked some genuinely kind and caring ones as well. But they are rare. also patients here tend to be whiny little cry babies that expect to be fixed no matter what damage they do to theirselves and so they sue for less than perfect results and force the MD.s to have to carry a ridiculous amount of insurance in the process! And drug companies and hardware companies spend too much on testing and pushing their products due to laws and regulations.Health Question & Answer

Public hospitals are terrible but not because of any risk of being assaulted or robbed, that's just an exaggerated claim. In public hospitals they don't care at all and consists mostly of people who just want to look at you really quickly so they can get the hell out of there.

People are too afraid of subsidizing health care here because of this notion that we're a free enterprise country, which we really aren't. The idea of slightly higher taxes bothers people so much, especially Republicans and conservatives, who pretty much run on the platform that government spending is bad and they won't do it. Of course, they always spend just as much or more, so it's really just an aesthetic ideal.
I think the main reason for it is because now there are major, major companies involved in health insurance, drug manufacturing, and other health related services. These companies are so huge and so powerful that they wield a lot of political power. Lobbyists pay presidential candidates, people in congress, and anyone else with law-making power to make sure those laws remain the same. This way they can reap the maximum amount of profits with as little actual medical care as possible.
That and the fear that is rampant in this country. Still some of a residual fear from the McCarthy era and Cold War era of communists, socialists, and anyone who doesn't appear to be a pure capitalist. Pretty silly huh.?Health Question & Answer



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