Post #4345922

@jeremiah_@mastodon.social @codinghorror@infosec.exchange it's much less nuanced than you think: * The AMA maintains a cartel to keep the supply of doctors limited and salaries high * Pharmaceutical prices are much higher than in the rest of the world. To some extent, it's because they free-ride on R&D paid for by Americans, but that does not explain why insulin is so much more expensive than anywhere else, despite being a mature medicine (hint: it's by minor adjustments to formulations and delivery mechanisms so they can be patented and kept expensive). It's also unconscionable that Medicare/Medicaid (50% of US health care expenditures) were until recently prohibited from negotiating volume discounts on the price of medications, that only being changed on the margins by the Inflation Reduction Act * Insurance "administrative costs" are double that elsewhere. This includes marketing expenses and all the AI systems designed to deny coverage to patients * Hospital charges are also far, far higher due to inefficiencies and stacking bills from multiple orgs