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by jmoak 561 days ago
While not directly related to your question, I think this will help answer many questions you may have about our spending.

This is a good start comparing america's healthcare expenditure to other countries' expenditures: https://randomcriticalanalysis.com/why-conventional-wisdom-o...

The short of it, on a national level:

Health spending is determined by income

Income predicts changes in health expenditure

The rising health share explained by rising quantities per capita (not prices!)

America spends much more because it consumes much more

The claim that US health care prices are inexplicably high was never well-evidenced!

Real health inputs (labor) increase rapidly with income levels

High overall wage rates and profit margins cannot explain much.

Physician take-home pay explains even less

The composition of the American health workforce is consistent with trends observed elsewhere.

and finally...

Diminishing returns to spending and worse lifestyle factors explain America’s mediocre health outcomes

These headline claims map to large sections of the linked content. I highly recommend chewing through it all.

1 comments

Interesting that we consume more services and have less doctors. I wonder if doctors respond to incentives.