U.S. health costs highest; malpractice no factor: study

[wakeme2008]

https://www2.harrisdirect.com/servlet/inet/rm_dtl.trn?research_cde=CLB&key_nmb=838277571&trn_key_nmb=CBS050712000204&symbol=N/A&topic=CLB_LIF_DEBT&subtopic=6609&site=CLB

U.S. health costs highest; malpractice no factor: study
By Kristen Gerencher

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Americans pay more for health care per person than citizens anywhere else in the world, doling out half again as much in medical expenses each year as the second-highest-cost country, according to a new study.

And contrary to popular belief and political rhetoric, malpractice lawsuits have little impact on those high costs in this country. Nor does the fact that people elsewhere end up on waiting lists for care that is in short supply do anything to hold costs down, according to the study published in the July/August edition of Health Affairs

..cut...
In 2001, the average malpractice award in the U.S. was $265,100. That was lower than Canada's $309,417 and the United Kingdom's $411,171 but higher than Australia's average payment per settlement or judgment of $97,014. All four nations had malpractice payments that represented less than 0.5% of total health spending

..more at link

[newswolf56]

1. The bottom line on why U.S. costs are so much higher is...

GREED, pure and simple. Only the United States -- out of all the nations on the planet -- has a greed-driven healthcare system: the greed of the prescription drug lords, the greed of the hospital barons, the greed of administrators demanding to be paid as if they ran Fortune 500 companies, the induced greed of doctors terrified by a $100,000 average debt when they graduate from medical school -- a debt that does not exist in countries that provide education based on ability rather than (real and potential) wealth. Once again, absolute proof our economic system has become an obscenity...

(And this information comes NOT from some advocacy group but from a Wall Street trading firm.)

Thanks for the posting. I routinely write about social issues and this will be very vital content.

[wakeme2008]

3. That is so true...

And the reason there is so many mal-practice suits in the US is they do not want to stop BAD doctors from practicing.
:grr:

[doodadem]

2. The sad thing about this

Is that the U.S. ranks 11th in the world in QUALITY of healthcare, per the last figures I saw from WHO.

[newswolf56]

4. That depends on the basis of the rating. Ranked according to...

the percentage of people who are denied health insurance of any kind, the U.S. is dead last, the very worst country in the industrial world. Don't remember where I saw this -- it was some years ago (and therefore most likely in an on-paper edition of The New York Times) -- but I believe the source was the United Nations. Whenever it was, one thing is certain -- access to health care in the U.S. has only gotten more economically exclusive (and therefore more difficult) since then: nearly 50 million people without insurance as of last year, and that figure is climbing rapidly as more jobs are outsourced and wages are downsized accordingly. To describe this situation as "obscene" is a woeful understatement-- especially since we are by far the wealthiest nation in the planet.

[applegrove]

5. The fact is monopoly power can keep costs down. Proof positive

that the market does not deliver "perfectly" in many areas of human need. Some form of government monopoly over health care should exist around the world. That should be a "norm". Because it works and it delivers better preventive health care: fewer long term illnesses that pharmaceuticals like so much.

[Sgent]

6. Both quality measures

and that article are extremely biased.

How many lawsuit's per doctor in each country? What's the cost of preventative medicine (as in lawsuite prevention)?

As for having a poor ranking on WHO reports, many of the statistics are flawed because they are not defined. For instance, in the US a 150g non-viable fetus that is alive at birth is considered an infant death. In most countries, its considered a spontaneous abortion (thus doesn't count against them).

I'm not saying that we have a good system overall -- we don't. But blind accusatory statements create greater resistance to change than truthfully acknoledging the problems that exist.

[applegrove]

7. Blind? Look at the stats on the cost of health care in each country!

Private industry will get away with whatever price they can. Profits need to be made. And health care has base costs. U.S. health care is twice as expensive as in Britain or Canada. That is bad.

Fact is - even when you look at the health care model's bare bones in economics - some form of monopoly health care is 1) more equitable obviously 2) better at keeping costs down. Even in theory the partial monopoly model is more cost effective than the total market model. Some industries have bugaboos and will not follow the assumed laws of supply and demand. Tis why pharmaceuticals have monopolies for a time too.

Fact is enough intelligent people want to be doctors that you will not have a lack of supply of people going into medicine if you promise them they will only in certain areas be able to charge what they want. Medicine is a calling. Why not take advantage of that and pay people salaries rather than letting them all build gorgeous vestibules and waiting rooms. Any doctor will tell you that medicine is a passion and the rewards are numerous and don't have to be financial (as opposed to someone who would sit looking at a ticker tape buying and selling stocks all day - where the rewards have to be financial).

One could say that foreign countries could specialize in basic medicine for the uninsured in the U.S. (because even the costs of operations paid for by foreigners are much cheaper outside the US). But unfortunately flying isn't good for healing. So most severe illnesses will have to be treated rather close to home.

Blind means one would have to ignore the facts. The facts have come in all over the world. Every single western country other than the U.S. has some form of monopoly health care. With a little private in the mix for areas that are optional or where the universal care doesn't deliver. Optometrists still make a killing in Canada. GPs do not - but they can afford two homes... instead of the three or four they can in the US in certain circumstances. The right always talks about values and you really have to wonder what exactly they mean. A society where a full third cannot get coverage - or cannot afford it is not a society that values everyone properly.

[Sgent]

8. Where did I say I opposed

a monopoly on healthcare? The industry is messed up, and I agree just like in Law there is a disparity of information in healthcare, so free market forces can't operate effeciently.

What I said was that the article was biased, and quoting biased articles convinces no one and makes people look like a political hack instead of trying to solve the problem.

[applegrove]

9. I have always heard those numbers on health care. Going back to

the mid 1980s. American Health Care was far and above more expensive ignoring law suits than anything else on the planet. I'm not kidding.

This is old news.

[johnnomac]

10. Ditto

I'm a Canadian teenager, and so I've always had "free" (tax-supported) government healthcare. The first time my dad told me that Americans had to pay for their healthcare, I seriously thought he was trying to fool me. I was absolutely stunned that government healthcare has not been enacted in the US.

By the way, I heard there was a "Greatest American" voting competition lately. We had a "Greatest Canadian" one several months ago. The winner was a politician and an advocate of: (any guesses?) Public Healthcare

[Sgent]

11. I just don't buy it

I've seen 10's of thousands of tests ordered by one doctor in one day due to fear of lawsuits. I've seen this with at least a dozen different doctor's, and its daily.

The tests are unneccissary -- at least in any country other than ours. They are not called for by clinical guidelines, but clinical guidelines don't apply according to the court system. So they order them.

[Sgent]

12. That should be

Tens of thousands of dollars of tests.

[area51]

13. Welcome.

Welcome to DU, johnnomac.