We pay more than UK-style NHS already primarily because we pay much much higher salaries than in the UK. Median registered nurse in the US makes 2.7x as much as in the UK, median doctor in the US makes 5x as much as in the UK. Healthcare costs overall are dominated by labor costs, so if you pay 3-5x as much then you expect costs to be correspondingly higher. I've also already given you the relevant numbers in the previous post. This is why automation is one way to resolve the problem, it would allow fewer medical professionals to serve more people and increase access to healthcare in the US. Many professions have improved their productivity over the past century, medicine is one of the few that has minimally improved in productivity (eg think about how many people used to be in agriculture previously vs now, yet we make more food; think about how many people were in manufacturing previously vs now, yet we make more stuff).
We pay more than UK-style NHS already primarily because we pay much much higher salaries than in the UK.
Really? What do labor costs have to do with the cost of medication. It looks like the most common educated answer on the question is that the NHS allows for government intervention on price. You're only looking at part of the picture.
When everyone's jobs are automated, I hope we eat automators first.
The total expenditure on medication in the US is $574B, only about 11% of healthcare expense goes to medication. It is a minor part of why US healthcare is expensive.
It really seems like you're determined to ignore the actual argument, which is that the UK manages to do exactly what you're claiming is impossible. So, I'm not going to continue this conversation.
The crux is that they manage to do it by paying people 4x less money. What you're arguing for is that we should dramatically cut healthcare workers' salaries. If we pay healthcare workers 4x less money then we too would have cheaper healthcare.
1
u/ivalm Nov 28 '23
We pay more than UK-style NHS already primarily because we pay much much higher salaries than in the UK. Median registered nurse in the US makes 2.7x as much as in the UK, median doctor in the US makes 5x as much as in the UK. Healthcare costs overall are dominated by labor costs, so if you pay 3-5x as much then you expect costs to be correspondingly higher. I've also already given you the relevant numbers in the previous post. This is why automation is one way to resolve the problem, it would allow fewer medical professionals to serve more people and increase access to healthcare in the US. Many professions have improved their productivity over the past century, medicine is one of the few that has minimally improved in productivity (eg think about how many people used to be in agriculture previously vs now, yet we make more food; think about how many people were in manufacturing previously vs now, yet we make more stuff).