U.S. Health Care Costs Are High Per Unit Care

There is a good article by Ezra Klein in the Washington Post showing how U.S. prices per unit health care are much higher than other developed nations. Data from the International Federation of Health Plans seems to indicate that the private health care industry in the United States charges much more per service than do their counterparts in other nations.

Here is the package of graphs and data on which his article was based.

While the current legislative process may result in insurance for most of those uncovered now, I doubt that the Congress will have the guts (gumption?) to limit health care costs/

The current system of course is the reason our costs are high. In other countries governments bargain to keep costs down. Here the health care providers have incentives to increase charges as do the insurers, and the patient has little bargaining power when he/she needs a health service. Employers who are facing increasing difficulty competing due to high health care costs also have little chance to bargain for lower cost services.