But that's OK right? Our prescriptions are generally cheaper than in other countries right? The cost of an MRI or CAT scan has gotta be less? UMMMM no. Our medical and insurance providing companies are not tightly regulated here so they end up negotiating on the price of medication and procedures as they see fit. An MRI that costs under 300 dollars in France is gonna cost you over 1,000 dollars here at home. A cat scan in France will run you under 150 dollars; in the U.S. that'll be 510 dollars please!
Here's the kicker. In some of these countries that spend less than we do on health care, the health care (after taxes) is free. That's right. In Canada if you need a hip replacement don't you worry, we got you citizen. In the United States of America you will be charged an absurd rate for the replacemnt hip, the surgeons fees, the anesthesiology fees, the medical facility fees, etc.... oh and the insurance you have (if you have it) will haggle that absurd rate down a bit so its only marginally ridiculous, and oh ya, you'll be paying the insurance company their monthly fee as well. This monthly fee some pay to insurance companies will sometimes cost more than the entire hip replacement procedure in another country.
But we have better overall survival rates for heart disease and cancer don't we? Not really. The answer to all these questions regarding any sort of superiority of the American health care system is gonna be a big, fat, obese and emphatic no. Think about this... Japans health care system is comparable to ours in most ways. If the states were to regulate costs as strictly as Japan does and spent the same share of GDP*, in 2009 alone the savings would have been around 1.25 trillion. That amount is larger than the U.S. defense budget. So this is food for thought next time you are in the doctors office or in line at the pharmacy. To put it kindly, you are being taken advantage of. The entire country is.
*Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time.
*Per Capita: A Latin term that translates into "by head," basically meaning "average per person." Per capita can take the place of saying "per person" in any number of statistical observances. In most cases the term is used in relation to economic data or reporting, but can also be used in most any other occurrence of population description.
Thats my rant but you should listen to this guys. It is much better than mine. He has attached articles that are more specific that I pulled from. Really... watch this:
John Green on Upworthy.com
