Why Your Stiches Cost $1,500

WHY YOUR STITCHES COST $1,500 PART TWO OF TWO: A LOOK AT THE ABSURD HEALTH CARE COSTS IN AMERICA The richest and most advanced country in the world, the United States, has fallen behind other nations in providing affordable health care to its citizens. Americans spend $477 billion a year MORE on health care than other advanced countries, which amounts to $1,645 per person every year. So why do we pay so much compared to other wealthy nations? WHY IS HEALTH CARE SO EXPENSIVE? 3 reasons that people often cite but are actually incorrect: MYTH! AMERICANS SMOKE AND DRINK TOO MUCH Alcohol Consumption Liters Per Capita % of Pop Daily Tobacco Smokers 20 10 Americans 7.7 L 8.1 L 8.1L 8.6 L 9.9L 11.2 L| 11.7 L 13 L drink and smoke far less than most Europeans and Japanese. O France O Italy United States Japan Germany O United Kingdom O Spain O Canada MYTH! AMERICA HAS A LARGER ELDERLY POPULATION % of Population 65 Years or Older 20% 16% 12% 4% 0% '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02 '03 "04 Elderly are the most expensive to care for, and the US has the Children are the lowest percentage of elderly people (as compared to the UK, France, Japan, Germany, Italy, Canada, Spain) cheapest to care for, and the US has the highest percent- age of children. MYTH! OBESITY IN AMERICA SKYROCKETS COSTS Health Care Spending In The US Costs in the US associated with disease, including obesity, total only $25 billion in extra health care spending. Health care Health care spending spending that can be blamed on a tiny fraction of overall costs. that can't. disease prevalence. MYTH! MALPRACTICE IS OUT OF CONTROL .......... We hear about lawsuits all the time. But in reality, malpractice only accounts for 2% of overall spending. While that's too high, it's NOT the reason health care is so expensive. THE REAL REASONS WHY HEALTH CARE COSTS SO MUCH PROVIDERS CHARGE MORE BECAUSE THEY CAN TRUTH! The US government is less involved in price regulation, so Americans have less power over health care costs. Average medication in the US is 118% more expensive than the medication in other countries TRUTHI ASTOUNDING ADMINISTRATIVE OVERHEAD Administrative costs account for 21% of our excess spending on health care. 85% of this is due to complex private insurance system. Americans pay $500 per person on administration, which is double the next most expensive country.. $500 $250 Administration not doing its job: Florida billed $310M in physical and speech therapy, a majority of which is fraudulent. TRUTH! MASSIVE OUTPATIENT CARE COSTS Outpatient spending is 41% of health care costs, totalling $850 Billion. This is DOUBLE the cost of other nations (relative to GDP). Hospitals provide incentive for quicker procedures because of huge profit margins, escalating unnecessary costs. In the UK, 60% of hernias are treated as inpatient, in the US, that number is just 11%. TRUTH! OUR DOCTORS ARE OVERPAID $ 138 BILLION Doctors make around 5X MORE than the average patient. In other countries, this is approximately 3X more. $64 BILLION Americans spend $138 billion on health care workers, $64 billion of which is excess spending. This is enough to pay for 9 months of the health care reform bill. HEALTH CARE IN Financial specialists in the health care field believe that increas- ing price transparency is one of the most important steps toward reducing costs for consumers. In other words: knowing where our money is going would make everything cheaper. Though it will take years to overhaul the system, understand- ing how health care spending works a critical starting place. AMERICA IS BROKEN, AND THE WAY WE OPERATE OUR SYSTEM NEEDS TO CHANGE DRASTICALLY. 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