Post #4345926

2026-08-02 21:03 UTC

@fazalmajid@social.vivaldi.net @codinghorror@infosec.exchange It’s a wee bit nuanced. The US spends vast sums at end of life in comparison to other countries. Also our health insurance system is broken and the fact that we pay insurance via work and not via the Government makes things more expensive.

Replies (1)

@fazalmajid@social.vivaldi.net 2026-08-02 23:00

@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

Open ##4345922