re: Why Are American Health Care Costs So High?

Because the system is a mixture of the worst of private and public. Neither has the appropriate combination of incentive and ability to control costs.

So we end up with the combination of the most expensive and most mediocre medical outcomes in the developed world. The system rocks if you are a really wealthy person for whom the costs are irrelevant. The system isn't that bad if you are a pretty poor person - there are at least some treatment options if not great facilities anxious to care for you. The system is not a great deal at all if you are neither poor nor very wealthy. For the majority of Americans systems ranging from Taiwan to Europe would do a more efficient job - resulting in better health outcomes overall.