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Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system (2018)

economist.com

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Re: Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system (2018)

#41

Post by mobilefriendly »

vertbhrtn wrote: post #30
bluedino wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we fixed our diet problems, I’m not sure if we’d either have e or healthcare costs, or if the industry would find other ways to fill in the gap

I'd argue it's unfixable for low income workers. Excessive sugar in all the cheap food is a trap they can't avoid. They don't have money to buy better food and don't have time to shop and cook for themselves. That's assuming they recognize this problem at all.

More than 40 million Americans are on food stamps (govt food support). In reality, many food basics like milk, rice and beans are healthy and affordable.

Re: Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system (2018)

#42

Post by Taek »

enaaem wrote: post #29
ntsplnkv2 wrote: post #6

> Everyone hates pharmaceutical firms, but their share of health-care rent-seeking is relatively trivial, especially once you include the many midsized and small firms that are investing heavily. This article misses the point. People hate pharmaceuticals because of ridiculously high drug costs, and that's about it. If they can't produce drugs at profit without gouging potential end users then it should be nationalize…

Developing new drugs takes over a decade and costs billions. European countries are free loading of US drug research. https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/how-other-countries-freeloa...

Do we have good data on what happens if you change the IP laws around drugs to reduce the moat that the developers get?

A common claim by big-pharma defenders is that if you take away the gouging aspect, drug development will stop. Is there some way we can test this experimentally on a subset of the drug market?

Re: Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system (2018)

#43

Post by lotsofpulp »

sytelus wrote: post #19

In the case of health care, consolidation has probably made things worse by muting competition. There are now five big insurance companies, three big wholesalers, three large pharmacy chains and three big benefit managers. In the case of health care, consolidation has probably made things worse by muting competition. There are now five big insurance companies, three big wholesalers, three large pharmacy chains and th…

That is the situation I see with pretty much all businesses. 2 to 3, maybe 5 large organizations who can outcompete everyone due to economies of scale, especially due to advancements in technology.

Re: Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system (2018)

#44

Post by dominotw »

enaaem wrote: post #29
ntsplnkv2 wrote: post #6

> Everyone hates pharmaceutical firms, but their share of health-care rent-seeking is relatively trivial, especially once you include the many midsized and small firms that are investing heavily. This article misses the point. People hate pharmaceuticals because of ridiculously high drug costs, and that's about it. If they can't produce drugs at profit without gouging potential end users then it should be nationalize…

Developing new drugs takes over a decade and costs billions. European countries are free loading of US drug research. https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/how-other-countries-freeloa...

I don't know how prevalent this is but i remember watching AOC questioning gilead execs on "stealing" HIV patent for the drug and selling drug back to public for exorbitant prices.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/business/gilead-truvada-h...

is corruption only explanation of how this happened?

Re: Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system (2018)

#45

Post by tkeAmarktinClss »

I didn't see anyone mention physicians.

The base rate of the profession is around 250k per year. Specialities are not included in that calculation.

Specialities are closer to 400k to 500k per year.

This is not natural. This is 130+ years of regulatory capture. Other countries pay their physicians half as much.

Not to mention outcomes are basically the same.

Re: Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system (2018)

#46

Post by mistersquid »

standardUser wrote: post #13
dan-robertson wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A counter argument I see sometimes is that the reason Americans spend more on healthcare compared to other rich countries is that American consumers spend more on just about everything than most other rich countries (and also earn more money). I don’t really know how much merit the argument has.

And as a result we have bigger homes, bigger cars, bigger TVs.... but worse healthcare outcomes? Seems like some of that excess spending yields us more returns than others.

> And as a result we have bigger homes, bigger cars, bigger TVs.... but worse healthcare outcomes?

Not to put too fine a point on it, but maybe "bigger $things" and "worse outcome" are on the same side of the graph.

Re: Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system (2018)

#47

Post by chewz »

sweeneyrod wrote: post #32
chewz wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This feudal lord probably have invested in an upkeep of few knights who enforce that chains stays in place. And then lobbied at the court against complaints from merchants and peasants. He might have also have to bribe few judges. Also historically feudal lords had been constantly in debt spending more on representation then they have earned. Some moneylenders might have taken all this rent from river chain. Or the f…

If I offer you the opportunity of not having your kneecaps broken in exchange for only $100/month, is this potentially completely fine because I could spend the money on "stimulating demand"?

Many great American companies started exactly from that. Time Warner comes to mind.. :-)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinney_Parking_Company

Re: Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system (2018)

#48

Post by jacobush »

dominotw wrote: post #38
jacobush wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A) don’t subsidise sugar B) tax sugar

> B It was tried and rolled back in chicago because it was deemed as unfairly targeting the poor.

Did Chicago stop corn subsidies in the US?

Re: Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system (2018)

#49

Post by claudeganon »

mchusma wrote: post #16

EconTalk has many great episodes digging into interesting aspects that are touched on here: why the US healthcare so expensive for so little extra value. This episode about the Oklahoma group that has had low cost & transparent prices for surgeries for many years. http://www.econtalk.org/keith-smith-on-free-market-health-ca... This one on why we get such expensive drugs with marginal benefit: http://www.econtalk.org/…

Roberts is well-read and diplomatic, but I wouldn’t exactly call what he does with his show thoughtful engagement. The very few instances he has guests that truly diverge from his ideological dispositions, he mostly dismisses their arguments without the same rigor that he defends those within his biases. His conversation with Elizabeth Anderson on workplaces as a form of private government is a good example of this:

https://www.econtalk.org/elizabeth-anderson-on-worker-rights...

Re: Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system (2018)

#50

Post by vertbhrtn »

jacobush wrote: post #31
vertbhrtn wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue it's unfixable for low income workers. Excessive sugar in all the cheap food is a trap they can't avoid. They don't have money to buy better food and don't have time to shop and cook for themselves. That's assuming they recognize this problem at all.

A) don’t subsidise sugar B) tax sugar

You assume good faith here. I'd argue that the "system" is intentionally set up this way.
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