zlacker

Like 5-10% of the US's total GDP gets wasted annually on the layers and layers and layers of healthcare middlemen… for worse outcomes.

>>elgeni+(OP)
That is crazy. That is more than the defense budget.

>>elgeni+(OP)
Eh. Most of the US' "worse outcomes" are upstream of the healthcare system and would be upstream of it under any other country's healthcare model too. (Diet/exercise, and vehicle-related injury.) Feel free to criticize the spending, but the worse outcomes angle is kind of disingenuous.

>>elgeni+(OP)
Where did you get that number from? It doesn't even pass the sniff test.

17% of GDP is spent on healthcare. Claiming 60% of that is just "middleman overhead" makes no sense when the highest European countries spend 70% of what the US spends on healthcare.

If you want an actual analysis of why US healthcare costs are higher, I'd recommend the McKinsey study that compared category spending vs OECD countries. Exhibit 2 on page 4.

https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/dotcom/client_serv...

Administrative costs are way higher in the US, but it only accounts for 15% of the higher cost.

The biggest driver is outpatient care - Americans get way more healthcare and it costs more (quantity * price).