Stop paying more, getting less health care

One of the eleven charts in the Vox article – read entire article here.

A series of charts published by Vox compares prices for 11 different medications and medical procedures.

Example: “Humira, a medication for multiple forms of arthritis, skin conditions, and inflammatory bowel diseases, costs three times as much in the United States as in Switzerland.”

Example: “Bypass surgery costs $78,318 here, versus $24,059 in the UK.”

Bottom line: the U.S. insurance system means we pay much more and get less medical care than people in countries with single-payer, non-insurance health care systems. Insurance companies raise health care costs. They raise costs to doctors and hospitals and health care professionals by requiring huge amounts of documentation, coding, billing and advance approvals. They raise costs because they charge more to generate their own profits and high salaries.

“Americans actually tend to use slightly less health care than people living elsewhere. We go to the doctor less, for example, and have fewer hospitals per capita than most European countries.”

We need to abolish health insurance. We need single-payer health care. For all of us. That will take continuing, persistent organizing. Part of that organizing is educating people about the profiteering insurance companies and the way that their profits drive up our health costs and impair our health care.