Why an MRI costs $1,080 in America and $280 in France

Discussion in 'Economics' started by bigarrow, Mar 5, 2012.

  1. Doctors are greedy!

    That's why.

    They double-bill patients, they over-bill patients, they get kick backs from drug companies, they scare patients into unneeded surgeries, they are just too damn greedy...........

    Whenever Obama tries to shake up the medical system, doctors try to stop him.
     
    #11     Mar 5, 2012
  2. if medical care is so cheap here in USA, why aren't you all paying CASH?
     
    #12     Mar 5, 2012
  3. Wow that's crazy. I never have done a drug test for a job here. Or even a full checkup. I think I have had one free checkup (free as in provided by the school) 15 years ago when I was a child, but that's all. I pay €100 euro's a month on health insurance. My last visit to the dentsit cost me €22. So yes, health care is even expensive in Europe and getting more expensive.
     
    #13     Mar 5, 2012
  4. Without knowing what the actual statistics, I would guess that the main causes for high medical costs in declining order are:

    High medical malpractice insurance rates
    High rate of obesity
    High utilization of specialists rather than general practitioners
    Inefficiency of dealing with many different private insurers
    High costs for medical school
     
    #14     Mar 5, 2012
  5. true capitalists pay cash..for everything :)

    whats the problem?
     
    #15     Mar 5, 2012
  6. My sister in law just went through one of those programs to become a certified medical billing and coding specialist. And it is crazy how many different interpretations there can be for the same services. They obviously have guidelines but it seems like your bill could vary greatly depending on who is working. There are something like 3 or 4 7000 page books broken down into drugs, specialties and areas of service with a code for every conceivable product or procedure.
     
    #16     Mar 5, 2012
  7. In europe college is free so doctors can charge less. In the US the debt load of medical school means they have to charge more.
     
    #17     Mar 5, 2012
  8. Don't forget that the average european has a lower standard of living than americans.
     
    #18     Mar 5, 2012
  9. I thought the Dems were for lawyers suing the crap out of everybody over medical BS? That BS drives up insurance costs. If ObamaCare takes over who are they going to sue? Themselves?
     
    #19     Mar 5, 2012
  10. Sounds like my kids are moving to Europe... :cool:
     
    #20     Mar 5, 2012