Actually the US has about the same number of physicians per capita as the OECD average.

But doctors make far less in other OECD countries that have physician price controls.

We would be smart to not require a second residency for doctors moving from OECD countries to the US (just pass the USMLE and have previously been a licensed doctor in another OECD country). That way we can get all their “starving doctors”.

Of each dollar spent on health care in the United States 31% goes to hospital care, 21% goes to physician services, 10% to pharmaceuticals, 8% to nursing homes, 7% to administrative costs, and 23% to all other categories (diagnostic laboratory services, pharmacies, medical device manufacturers, etc.)

If the insurance (including Medicare) did not have the 7% administrative costs, then my premiums would be higher because of more insurance fraud. For example, Medicare fraud is around $60 billion per year as it is.

We can’t really compare Medicare and private insurance administrative costs beause they are very different patient mixes. Medicare “advertises” 2% administrative costs, but a better analysis that includes hidden costs shows about 5.2%, compared to private insurance 8.9%. But keep in mind that the sicker patients of Medicare lead to per patient administrative costs being higher for Medicare than private insurance. Plus it is likely that there is far more Medicare fraud than private insurance fraud, thus perhaps Medicare could save money by having a higher administrative cost!

(lest you do not believe me, “Couples seeking infertility treatment in some parts of Scotland are having to wait up to three years longer than those in other areas”:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6883053.ece

“Connecticut

Individual and group health insurance policies are required to cover medically necessary expenses for infertility diagnosis and treatment. Infertility is defined as the inability to conceive or sustain a successful pregnancy during a one-year period.

Covered treatments include ovulation induction, interuterine insemination, IVF, uterine embryo lavage, embryo transfer, GIFT, ZIFT, and low tubal embryo transfer. Coverage is limited to individuals who have maintained coverage under the policy for at least a year.”

http://www.asrm.org/Patients/insur.html#CT

For example, the Netherlands is considered by Transparency International to be much less corrupt than the US.

Then again, I suspect our house prices & car prices are as well.

If you want to see a neat graph of cross-country health expenditures as % of total GDP and per capita PPP, the below link shows that the US has always been near the top of spending as far back as 1960, but the other OECD countries slowed down their spending growth as % of total GDP or as per capita PPP around 1980, while the US pulled far ahead.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/us-health-spending-breaks-from-the-pack/

Compare with General Practitioner income PPP:

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/how-much-do-doctors-in-other-countries-make/?apage=3

Private health insurance companies are a scapegoat. We know the profit margins of the health insurance industry is very small (~3%, not to mention the non-profits.)

US doctors make twice the OECD average, despite the facts that we have about an average number of doctors per capita compared with other OECD countries.

I can’t figure out why US doctors make so much more than in other OECD countries. It isn’t just to offset medical school repayment and higher malpractice insurance costs than other OECD countries (although that does explain some of the difference).

I can only conclude that other OECD countries have decided to “stick it to the doctors” through lower “negotiated rates” with doctor’s unions. There was a huge doctor strike in France in 2002, which shows the pressure between them and the government.

Also, these are absolute dollars. How does the chart look with % of income? Can the numbers be broken between required and elective?

What’s your proof on “overall quality just as good”? What about specific results? Like, once someone is diagnosed, what’s their survival rate? Chance of infection? How quickly are they treated, released and back to productive pursuits?

Not true… What millions of lives depend on is good sound judgment on matters such as the intake of healthy food, exercise and the move away from risky behavior.

I renewed my drivers license with 3 clicks on this computer. Haven’t spent more then 4 hours of my life at the DMV over the last 15 years.

Now the Texas Roadhouse had a 40 minute wait the other day. So we left.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_n5ROGN0Id8Q/Suu8HDhL2uI/AAAAAAAAABY/t15qpdlaEXA/s1600-h/Per+capita+healthcare+costj.jpg

http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2009/11/sen-reid-on-health-insurance-profits.html

Here’s the irony. This government, supposedly the best and the brightest, believes their ideas trump all others.

But, if that is truly the case why does the Senate Majority Leader feel the need to lie? Why does the rest of the administration, knowing that their leader in the Senate is lying, fail to correct the leader?

If the administration can lie and support that lie in the face of facts countering their lies what on earth leads anyone to believe that they’ll be honest in any other aspect of the medical care debate?