Hospital treatement was the #1 cause of bankruptcy.
Then, 30 years ago, our universal healthcare system was introduced.
Problem solved. There is a levy on our taxes each year to pay for it, a bit like a private health insurance premium. But its worth it. It also covers people who can't pay, like the unemployed/disabled.
We have a similar levy in the USA, except it's mostly paid by people that can pay for healthcare, so an aspirin costs $100 when administered by a hospital.
And since insurance companies are smart, they negotiate down those exorbitant rates to something more reasonable, so much of the burden lies on those stuck in the middle -- they don't have enough income to pay for health insurance, but have enough assets to pay for healthcare so they end up paying the exhorbitant rates because most people don't have time to rationally evaluate and price out their healthcare and choose the most cost effective provider, and even if they do have the time, the hospital can't tell you how much it's going to cost until the work is done and they bill you.
Even when you are insured and have a procedure done by a doctor that's covered by your healthcare plan, sometimes another provider (like an anesthesiologist) will do part of the procedure and you end up paying $10,000 or more out of pocket for his services.
This is the effect of lobbying (call it legalized corruption). Insurance shouldn’t be that expensive that even middle class can’t pay for it and a hospital shouldn’t be allowed to charge arbitrary sums for this. It’s clearly possible since many countries successfully pull this off.
But in countries that are “for corporations, by corporations” regular people can’t lobby their way into getting what they want or need. Only the wants and needs of a certain few that pay for their laws are considered.
> We have a similar levy in the USA, except it's mostly paid by people that can pay for healthcare, so an aspirin costs $100 when administered by a hospital.
> And since insurance companies are smart, they negotiate down those exorbitant rates to something more reasonable
This is just absurd, though. The market value of aspirin administered by a hospital is not 100$, but closer to what the insurance company negotiates it to.
Hospital treatement was the #1 cause of bankruptcy.
Then, 30 years ago, our universal healthcare system was introduced.
Problem solved. There is a levy on our taxes each year to pay for it, a bit like a private health insurance premium. But its worth it. It also covers people who can't pay, like the unemployed/disabled.