It’s just like healthcare and education - government money turns these systems into jobs programs with inflated costs and slow progress.
So… it’s ostensibly “public” while actually victim to massive regulatory capture?
Wild to pick the two things that essentially every other developed country
1) runs through their government
2) does way better than the U.S.
What surprised me was that in the US, non-prescription meds are FAR cheaper. THe joys of having an actual free market as opposed to the captured and unwieldy hybrid that is US insurance.
They cost nearly the same, whether your insurance is "negotiating a rate and covering a large portion and you pay the remainder", or if you just buy a box of 120 sprays off the shelf, from a generic manufacturer.
American insurance industry is a giant, systemic fraud. It pretends to save you money by creating entirely fake high prices that they """negotiate""" down to a still stupid price that you are contractually obligated to pay a portion of. How much money actually changed hands between all parties? Oh they can't tell you that.
Just as an anecdote, I had to go to an ENT in the US. I was discouraged that it took 12 days. Meanwhile I learned that a friend in the UK had to wait 4 months. Imagine being in pain and misery for weeks with no solution and being told you have to wait 4 months before someone can evaluate you.
I'll take 12 days and a $40 copays 10/10 times.
27% of cases take one month or longer to get to a specialist in the US. Compare that to 61% Norway and Canada and 0% in Spain and Chile, all of which are single payer systems. That figure is at 25% in Germany and The Netherlands, which are both mandatory multi-payer systems (a mix of private and public insurance with much stricter limits on out of pocket costs compared to the US). It's not obvious that single payer systems lead to universally better or worse wait times.
Now, the UK is especially bad but their system is receiving a national gutting at the moment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_government_space_agenc...