[vkou]

Expenses are definitely higher, and doctors and hospital CEOs and med school CEOs do drive nicer cars and have bigger summer dachas, but I can't say the same about quality. Six month waits for a specialist, every PCP and shrink you'd want to visit not taking on new patients, ER wait times comparable with other developed nations, worse overall outcomes...

Maybe the top 0.5% is getting better care, but I really wouldn't shed a lot of crocodile tears for them.

[peter422]

See what the wait times are for the specialists in other countries, if they even exist!

The US is also the 3rd biggest country in the world. It’s very hard to solve these things are such a massive scale.

[vkou]

> See what the wait times are for the specialists in other countries, if they even exist!

I assure you, they exist, I have been to them, and the wait times were about as long.

> It’s very hard to solve these things are such a massive scale.

That's goalpost-shifting nonsense that doesn't justify the outrageous cost of healthcare. And most of these problems become easier to solve with a higher population and density and larger economy, because you have way more slack in the system, and you have way more economies of scale that you can put to work.

I'm also not complaining about healthcare in the middle of Alaska, 50 miles from a highway (or deep in the poverty belt). I'm talking about overpriced, underachieving care in wealthy metro areas.