[siderax]

I read somewhere, don't remember where that your healthcare system is more costly because of you're legal system.

There are more legal risk and cost for doctor, hospital, etc.. in the US, so their insurance is (way) more costly, so their price is higher.

But I don't have any data, so that's just an hypothesis. But if this is true, good luck to change that.

[maxerickson]

It's one of many factors. It isn't the sole factor and it probably isn't the biggest one.

(We have less doctors that we should, there are structural incentives designed to increase access to hospitals and emergency rooms in low population density areas, our insurance system is designed by the insurance companies, there are mandates about providing services that are not fully funded and on and on)

[e40]

I read somewhere, don't remember where that your healthcare system is more costly because of you're legal system.

Cost controls are the reason. Providers can charge anything they want in the US. Not true in the EU.

[alkonaut]

The reason is that somehow business has more political power than patients, doctors etc. That all comes back to the eternal problem of politicians having to have funds to be elected. So everyone in office owes favours to various people and organizations. If campaigning politicians weren't allowed to accept any money from anyone at all (people or organizations) then a lot of the political problems in the US would just vanish I think. It's somehow so natural that americans tend to not even think that it's odd that personal political campaigns are paid for by donors.

[ceejayoz]

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-another-stu...

> The notion has lived on despite copious evidence that that the so-called defensive medicine practiced by doctors merely to stave off lawsuits accounts for, at best, 2% to 3% of U.S. healthcare costs. As for "frivolous lawsuits," they're a problem that exists mostly in the minds of conservatives and the medical establishment.

> A new study led by Michael B. Rothberg of the Cleveland Clinic and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association aimed to measure how much defensive medicine there is, really, and how much it costs. The researchers' conclusion is that defensive medicine accounts for about 2.9% of healthcare spending. In other words, out of the estimated $2.7-trillion U.S. healthcare bill, defensive medicine accounts for $78 billion.

[BryanBeshore]

Interesting points, but this still does not shed light on the effective insurance costs physicians pay (annually and over the life of a practice), in case a malpractice suit is brought against them.

[ceejayoz]

https://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/would-tor...

> Q. But critics of the current system say that 10 to 15 percent of medical costs are due to medical malpractice.

> A. That’s wildly exaggerated. According to the actuarial consulting firm Towers Perrin, medical malpractice tort costs were $30.4 billion in 2007, the last year for which data are available. We have a more than a $2 trillion health care system. That puts litigation costs and malpractice insurance at 1 to 1.5 percent of total medical costs. That’s a rounding error. Liability isn’t even the tail on the cost dog. It’s the hair on the end of the tail.

Even at the 10-15% number, that's meaning the vast majority of costs still come from elsewhere.

[BryanBeshore]

I'm referring to what are the out of pocket costs a physician pays in malpractice insurance -- the cost they pay, even if a lawsuit is not brought against them.

Not the cost of actual malpractice lawsuits

[germanier]

If there is at least a bit of competition in malpractice insurance "the out of pocket costs a physician pays in malpractice insurance -- the cost they pay, even if a lawsuit is not brought against them" and "the cost of actual malpractice lawsuits" should be fairly close on average.

[ceejayoz]

And my quote states "malpractice insurance".

> That puts litigation costs and malpractice insurance at 1 to 1.5 percent of total medical costs.

[Pigo]

The debate I always find comical is when you get a healthcare provider and an healthcare insurance provider in a single thread debating who is causing the hike. It can become a lengthy and contentious argument.