[arethuza]

I'd imagine the lack of billing staff at NHS hospitals probably helps keep the cost down quite a bit?

[gvjddbnvdrbv]

Sadly they've added a billing system for 'health tourism'. Before that they didn't ask too many questions just treated people. I guess the billing system pays for itself? Not sure.

[pc86]

In the US medical billers make like $8/hr, I'm not sure that's a huge cost center compared to the $400k/yr physician.

[ric2b]

But is the ratio 1 to 1? Or are there way more medical billers than physicians?

Anyway, it's an unnecessary cost.

[pc86]

One of my previous employers had approximately a dozen billers for 75-or-so physicians, and the average physician salary was $500k.

[arethuza]

Presumably the billers spend a lot of time trying to get money out of insurance companies? We don't have those either..

[We do have private healthcare provides but even they seem much cheaper than the US system]

Edit: Any time the US healthcare system is described on HN it all sounds rather bureaucratic and stressful - as if being sick wasn't bad enough already!