[sol_remmy]

Two things you get wrong:

1. It's actually an EXTRA $100 billion per year - "Because our doctors are paid, on average, more than $250,000 a year (even after malpractice insurance and other expenses), and more than 900,000 doctors in the country" - the TOTAL we spend is about ~$240 billion dollars

2. That is SALARY ONLY. You aren't including the fully loaded cost of doctors: many get large Christmas bonuses, company stock, health care - that could easily be an average of 75k more per doctor

[jmull]

1. That’s the point: how much extra we seem to be paying vs other places (which have good healthcare).

2. You are wrong here. Click through to the source and you’ll find the number is for overall compensation, not just salary. E.g.:

    For employed physicians,
    patient-care compensation
    includes salary, bonus, and
    profit-sharing contributions. 
    For partners, this includes
    earnings after taxes and 
    deductible business expenses
    but before income tax.

I think you should be carful about making strong claims like that without checking the facts first.

[analog31]

Indeed, I've read that many if not most doctors are self employed. They also own the clinics and have access to "insider" investments such as purchasing and operating diagnostic equipment. In addition, I've also read that doctors make up a large proportion of the investors in medical provider businesses, and even the malpractice insurance industry.

I'd expect salaries to be an incomplete measure of where the money is going, and to whom.

I think the only way to get a true cost accounting of the health care system is to operate the whole thing. This may be why other countries have lower costs.

[nradov]

That hasn't been true for a while now. More and more physicians are employees of large provider groups rather than owners or partners in small practices. The provider organizations have to merge and consolidate in order to get negotiating power for dealing with payers.