The US spends a lot more on healthcare per head of capita than any other developed nations, yet Americans get a lot less for their money than all other countries. With the healthcare cost spinning out of control, America will soon spend 20% of its GDP on health.
Healthcare prices are being pushed up with hidden insurance deals and hospital consolidation while health sector is becoming more powerful than ever. The actual cost of what patients are buying or insurance companies are selling remains hidden and few people among most doctors, hospitals or even insurers know how much the prices are being manipulated and increased.
The drug prices are bring increased drastically by pharmacy benefit managers and patients have little or no idea how much they are paying for something that costs so little in other countries.
Health care market consolidations is impacting costs, quality and access:
Hospitals are becoming more consolidated and are negotiating higher prices with insurers. As healthcare markets are becoming more consolidated, the healthcare prices are increasing drastically and the quality of care is being reduced drastically.
The fact is that the health insurance companies have ripped people off for years with extremely high prices, denying claims, changing coverage with little notice, charging customers with unnecessary hidden fees, and higher premiums and medical billing errors.
We need to take the control of our health and government back and get rid of the corporate forces that have destroyed our democracy and have given birth to and unhinged and unregulated corny capitalism. We need to make universal healthcare available and affordable for everyone and stop thinking of healthcare as a free market.