WSJ August 1st: "Why We Spend So Much on Health Care"

This article - with its numerous charts and graphs - is one of the best analyses I've seen on this very complex topic.

"Americans aren't buying more health care overall than other countries. But what they are buying is increasingly expensive. Among the reasons is the troubling fact that few people in health care, from consumers to doctors to hospitals to insurers, know the true cost of what they are buying and selling."

Article topics receiving focus include:

• How health expenditures grew as a percentage of GDP (versus OECD averages, 1974 to today with future projections),
• Hidden prices and the opacity of the industry,
• Consolidation shifting power with hospitals having more clout to negotiate higher prices, and
• Bigger stake in the system: there are powerful constituencies resistant to change.

I suspect most readers will already be familiar with many of these issues. However, there are some topics - well presented - that may be less well-known.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-americans-spend-so-much-on-health-carein-12-charts-1533047243