Healtchare is part of a much bigger problem in America. Americans want to make a lot of money and buy a lot of things with it. Doctors make several hundreds of thousands of dollars a year (compare that to what they make in France, Britian, Sweden, etc.), CEOs make tens of millions while they run their businesses into the ground, heck even some types of nurses make over a hundred thousand dollars a year.

And nobody wants to take a pay cut and stop buying a bunch of things they dont need, especially if others dont have to do the same. You cant ask a doctor and health workers to take a 50% pay cut to make healthcare more affordable while we let bank CEOs continue to make much more than they are worth.

I doubt America will be able to fix this problem anytime soon, its more of a cultural and social problem than an economic one now.

The problems I see with healthcare in America from an observers point of view (costwise that is).

1) You pay people way too much. (like doctors)

2) Big pharma seems to have you guys by the throat more than in other places

3) Lawsuits.


Is that an accurate set of reasons for why your healthcare costs are obscenely high?

I agree with #3, partly #2, and not so much #1.

I think the, by far, biggest issue is we just don't live healthy lifestyles. 

I don't mind what Pharma charges for drugs, but laws need to change on how long they can have a patent on that drug. If someone invents a cure for something that without them spending the money would not exist, desirves to get paid for it. After a few years however, cheaper versions need to be produced.

I think another big problem is just... people don't shop around.

Different companies will quote you way different amounts for healthcare, a cheaper healthcare company for 20 somethings may be really expensive for people over 60 etc.

To cut costs and prices a lot of insurance companies focus on one specific demographic. 

They focus on making that demographics healthcare affordable by making deals specifically for that group and making their good deals specifically on that group's care and then once the contract is in play, they raise the prices on everyone but that group to try and "force" those people to jump to another insurance provider that specializes in their kind of treatment. 

Problem is, most people just sit there, take the increases and just assume all healthcare is getting that much more expensive.

Heck, that happened to me until I heard a friend of mine jumped to another insurance plan that was 40% cheaper AND had more benefits.

That's what makes the "public exchange" Idea interesting... but my god.  That doesn't take billions of dollars.

That just takes a website.  I mean hell, car insurance companies do it.

There are people out there who can't afford health insurance... mostly people who already have or were born with major illnesses, people who qualify for medicare yet don't apply to it, and people who are slightly above the welfare limit. 

Really all we need is to slightly raise the welfare limit, find a way to increase medicare enrolling... and we're about done outside of figuring out what to do with people born with major illnesses or people who develop major illnesses after choosing to not get healthcare.

If you can find someone who is willing to do the same job and can get similar or better results than these CEOs and doctors while earning less then they shouldn’t be making as much money as they are. While you can probably list off many instances where you could find better people who are over-paid because of how poor of a job they’re doing,  for the most part the education, experience, accreditation and track-record that is expected of these high earning individuals is so difficult to obtain that it would be impossible to attract people who could do these same jobs without offering them a similar or greater salary.

Beyond this you have to consider the opportunity cost, other expenses, and lifetime earnings of these positions before you claim that they are being paid too highly. A couple of years ago, I calculated that the average doctor was in his late 30s before he pulled ahead in lifetime earnings of someone who worked at McDonalds since they graduated high-school; and would (likely) never pull ahead of someone who was able to get a (modestly) high paying job in the trades in their early 20s.

Then why are there doctors in France, Britain, and Sweden?  If you look at America, many of our professions pay much more than similar developed countries. 

Yeah, if you forced a pay cut on doctors they would go into some other high paying proffesion, so you would have to do a major overall and bring down many of overpaid salaries down at once.  Thats not possible under current conditions, but it doesnt mean it doesnt need to be done.

As for a doctor's education, the average doctor can expect to make $200,000 a year (keep in mind that family doctors make much less than specialists, and thus are pulling the average down).  As for your calculations, the only thing that makes becoming a doctor look less appealing is the cost of education, which is obviously high since many of their deans and teachers are making a ton of money (At my university, the president makes $800,000 a year and the dean of medicine makes over $500,000, not to mention numerous other deans and professors as well as a neurosurgeon doctor who make over a million a year).  As long as these people have these salaries education is going to be coslty, so all doctors will need to make a lot of money to pay them off, and thus charge patients a lot of money.

So, in your ideal world where there isn’t a major difference in income between those that work hard to achieve great things and those who make excuses to stay where they’re at, why would an individual spend decades more in school, work long hours, and take on the responsibility of these high paying jobs when they can have a similar material standard of living while working a 20 hour work week at a low stress job?

You don't need to force pay cuts on doctors. There are other ways to do it.

Like I stated in my example, the reason doctors get paid too much is that they are overworked and in short supply. Because of that, those who are available get paid far too hansomely. Its the law of supply and demand.

Sadly to say, there are government and union regulations in place that prevent a better flow of doctors and nurses into the fields.

http://education-portal.com/requirements_to_become_a_doctor.html

Such a website advises to become a doctor in the US, it requires 8 years of schooling + 3-8 years of residency to become a full fledged doctor. So if it takes up to 16 years....How many people are going to complete those requirements?

If you didn't know, the United States has the most stringent requirements to become a doctor.  Comparatively, you can become a doctor in 5 years in India (4 years of college + 1 year of residency). Of course, most are considered 2nd and 3rd world countries which may put a damper on what one assumes could be a good doctoral candidate.

Are there any countries that have great healthcare systems and have low requirements? Yes. Japan. Japanese doctors require only 6 years of college. Japan also spends 8% of its GDP on healthcare and has the 2nd highest life expectancy of any nation on Earth....Despite having some of the lowest standards for doctors.

Europe is far easier than America, too, as they require 2 years less of education, plus internship time. I'd love to hear what MrBubbles has to say about this discussion, because AFAIK he is a Sweedish doctor.

At any rate, when you look at that data, you realize that America has standards that are causing problems. You can become a doctor in India or China, and move to America and hold equal credentials, despite spending 1/3rd the time on becoming a doctor. Does that sound very competitive for American doctors? That is probably the reason that Americans complain that there are too many doctors that they can't understand.

With that in mind, it may be time to lower the requirements to become a doctor in the US. If we had more doctors (and we are no where near the top in terms of doctors per capita, despite having a modern healtcare system) they would compete for jobs, and they would demand less money. Until that happens, we will either suffer due to costs, quality, or both.

If your a doctor, one of the most lucrative fields to go into is Plastic Surgery. The cost of medical care in that field has gone down, while everything insurance companies cover has gone up. If the cost of the doctor was the issue, both fields would have grown in cost the same.

Hell, if you are a self employed truck driver in the US, you can make well over 100k. Averaging 200k as a doctor does not seem that high to me.

The thing about the canadian healthcare system and it's criticisms is that the places in canada that are congested most are the big cities. Considering that most americans don't live in one mass on one side of the country it is unlikely to be a gigantic issue. Honestly people shouldn't rely too much on healthcare like montana hatchet said. Prostate exams, Therapists and maybe the occasional circumcision but that is all I could justify 'relying' on healthcare for. I mean if you have to get a cardio bypass you should probably pay for it on your own since ronald mcdonald didn't force you to buy the diabetes explosion burger.