Healthcare Spending
I recently stumbled across this really nice interactive chart put up by the Washington Post. It compares the costs of medical care across The United States, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, France, India, Chile, Canada, and Argentina.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/business/high-cost-of-medical-procedures-in-the-us/
This is a huge problem in our country, and our costs just seem to keep elevating. I personally believe that this has a lot to do with our insurance system getting in the way and getting their cut directly from both the patients and also the practitioners and hospitals offering service. Everyone has to be insured, and insurance claims often have to be argued, sometimes in the courts. As someone who has spent a lot of years being uninsured, I can tell you that you find some clinics that will charge you less for not having to go through the hassle of getting paid from an insurance company, and others that will charge you double to try and make up for all the underpaid bills that are left when insurance companies pay under cost for services. It’s a troubled system at best. That being said, I just made my first medical appointment with a major medical insurance card tonight, and it’s a relief to have it. I can see why those who do feel covered are afraid to give that up. So, I’m not sure where we as a nation go from here. But hey, Wilson Andrews has put together a really nice informative chart that at least lets us begin to see what we are paying from a relative standpoint.