[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by tw2113

I'm forever wondering how it's possible that these prices are/were reached in the first place and if they were actually closer to legit costs and not inflated so much, how the current setup could actually be effective.


I won't deny I could be quite naive on the topic overall though.

there are a bunch of factors piled up one on top of the other but just off the top of my head...

-the uninsured raise costs for everyone else when they can’t pay
-insufficient primary/preventive care raises costs of specialists + procedures down the line
-overuse of emergency rooms over lower cost options, per above
-lack of insurance standards raises the administrative cost for medical practices
-high cost of medical education/debt incentivizes high prices
-cultural tradition of seeing medicine as a moneymaking business not a vocation
-high cost of malpractice insurance in a lawsuit-happy environment gets passed to the patient
-unnecessary procedures to avoid malpractice lawsuits
-unregulated/abusive pharmaceutical prices. often cited as “cost of research” by companies, often patently not (e.g., see cost of insulin)
-chronic diseases like diabetes and heart problems eat a large chunk of resources (again tied to deficiencies in preventive care)
-upfront costs are hidden, even for providers (e.g. xrays/tests in a lab cost less than xrays/tests in a hospital, but they don’t tell you that, and when you ask how much your session will cost nobody has an answer, the surprise! here’s your bill...)
-etc