This is only my opinion, but it is based on some detailed reaearch into healthcare expenditures around the globe. For developed countries, the US has either the highest or the 2nd or 3rd (depending on whose data you believe) system-loss to overhead. Only about 27 cents of every dollar spent in healthcare makes it into actual provider-salaries, medicine, infrastructure, etc. The other 73 cents of every dollar spent on healthcare here goes to administrative costs, legal-fees, and paying the salaries of all the good, hardworking employees in the insurance industry. Sadly, none of those people could be instantly retrained to be doctors or nurses, so though I can clearly see the problem, any solution I might propose would result in massive unemployment on an unbelievable scale. No easy answers indeed! I'm not sure how we got where we are, but until we find a way to get the "overhead" in healthcare down to a more acceptable level, it will be impossible to appreciably improve quality of care without pumping money into the system, and while the bloated business-beauracracy continues to exist it will only grow and parasitize healthcare - but I have friends in that industry, and they are good people that need their paychecks. If anyone has the answer to this one, I'll buy them a beer whenever they're in my neighborhood.
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This is only my opinion, but it is based on some detailed reaearch into healthcare expenditures around the globe. For developed countries, the US has either the highest or the 2nd or 3rd (depending on whose data you believe) system-loss to overhead. Only about 27 cents of every dollar spent in healthcare makes it into actual provider-salaries, medicine, infrastructure, etc. The other 73 cents of every dollar spent on healthcare here goes to administrative costs, legal-fees, and paying the salaries of all the good, hardworking employees in the insurance industry. Sadly, none of those people could be instantly retrained to be doctors or nurses, so though I can clearly see the problem, any solution I might propose would result in massive unemployment on an unbelievable scale. No easy answers indeed! I'm not sure how we got where we are, but until we find a way to get the "overhead" in healthcare down to a more acceptable level, it will be impossible to appreciably improve quality of care without pumping money into the system, and while the bloated business-beauracracy continues to exist it will only grow and parasitize healthcare - but I have friends in that industry, and they are good people that need their paychecks. If anyone has the answer to this one, I'll buy them a beer whenever they're in my neighborhood.