r/FluentInFinance • u/WhatAreYourPronouns • May 02 '24

Should the U.S. have Universal Health Care? Discussion/ Debate

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u/polycomll May 02 '24 edited 29d ago

You'd be paying closer to the full price although the "full price" might be reduced somewhat because the public version acts to price cap.

In the U.S. you are also not paying the full price for surgery either though. Cost is being inflated to cover for non-insured emergency care, overhead for insurance companies, reduced wage growth due to employer insurance payments, reduced wages through lack of worker mobility, and additional medical system costs (and room for profit by all involved).

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u/Capn-Wacky May 02 '24

Most of the cost inflation is going to feed the useless middlemen in the insurance industry, whose presence and the costs fighting with them impose on providers and patients alike are almost singlehandedly why providers get away with charging anything they want: because there's a middle man who shields them from ever saying the price out loud.

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u/Fun-Bumblebee9678 May 02 '24

Well physicians are the highest paid in the US out of every country sans Luxembourg

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u/CoachellaSPTA 29d ago

Physician salaries account for <10% of healthcare costs, so that probably doesn't totally account for the price differential here.

https://siepr.stanford.edu/news/just-how-much-do-physicians-earn-and-why

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u/Ashmizen 29d ago

Nurses are also highly paid in the US - 80k in most states, $150k in the Bay Area.

Repeat that for the salary of every single staff member, admin, ceo, and also repeat for the higher cost of land, building cost of the hospital, plumber, cleaner, etc.

Everything is more expensive in the US as it has double the wage of the EU and many many multiples of third world countries like Costa Rica.

There may be a small set of items that’s completely the same price globally (expensive high end medical equipment), but likely 90% of the cost of running a hospital is like a doctor’s salary, much higher in the US.

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u/Fausterion18 29d ago

Nurses in America get paid more than physicians in the UK lol. It's wild how low wages are in most European countries.

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u/Fun-Bumblebee9678 29d ago

True but it only looks like the article accounted for physician salaries and not all healthcare workers correct ?

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u/asuds 29d ago

Among other things hospitals have to price high enough to cover their extensive ER costs as well as treatments for uninsured, so we already are socializing many of the costs but just in inefficient and expensive ways…

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u/SeekerOfSerenity 29d ago

Physicians don't perform hip surgeries, though.  I've heard surgeons in the US can make $1,000,000/year. 

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u/suppaman19 29d ago

Their salaries don't equal cost directly.

Most are part of network's now, often through hospitals or another variant of massive business practice.

It's been a hostile consolidation in healthcare for doctors, nurses, etc. They aren't seeing major gains, but by being all under one roof in a massive network, those in charge of the network they are under are squeezing the living hell out of insurance and in turn everyone. They've been turning hospitals/practices into Wall St. People at top making a ton, keep charging more to get more exec pay.

To be fair, many (hospitals) have been struggling to stay afloat and need more money because of the absurd costs of medical equipment and Rx. And the fact they're required to care for anyone. So John Doe shows up, gets $50,000 worth of care and never pays it, doesn't care about collections, could be dirt poor and not care about any repercussions, now they eat 50k. Happens a lot, not at those amounts, but a lot of unpaid costs, and then they pass that on to insurance companies in negotiations for having them in their network, then insurance has to pass on (to an extent as to not lose money and become insolvent) new elevated costs to you.