What's the biggest cost driver in health care?

some of the cost drivers:
Technology. Today's modern equipment is far more expensive than what was available in the 50s.
Medical Research: Again, costlier today than it used to be.
Legal costs: Malpractice lawsuits, and the needed measures to prevent those lawsuits.
Increased life span: People living longer and requiring far more medication than before.
Healthcare payroll.

Is there hope to keep healthcare costs low?

Gee Wally
The best way is to use social medicine. Human health should not be a commodity to be traded on Wall Street.

NOpublican's in 2012
Insurance company operating cost and profits

Think Outside the Ballot Box
The existence of insurance companies.
Doctors charge the maximum because insurance companies are willing to pay it (and the payment always comes much later than it would if the patient paid directly.)

Horse Head
Preventive medicine, liability insurance and lawsuits.

Climbing Up the Walls
I see two reasons for these ridiculous costs. First is health "insurance." The second is the AMA basically restricting the amount of doctors who can practice.

Chupate esa!
Decease and poor eating habits...

Libertarian Market Anarchist
The problem too is the AMA (American Medical Association). They ruin the supply side of labor (doctors, nurses, etc...) by creating barriers to entry. The AMA is the reason why foreign doctors can't come here, made English a requirement (even if the patient is knocked out), and dictate how many medical schools exist. Even if I had the money to fund a medical school that had everything, the AMA can still turn me down. If it was plausible to get doctors as common as A/C repairmen, the labor would be much cheaper (Obviously not as cheap, but to illustrate a picture).

Secondly the problem is a lot of Medical Technology is forced onto hospitals and doctors. The FDA/AMA etc... can determine something as out dated even if it's just as sufficient. This happens due to lobbying, manufacturers want their product to sell, so by outlawing old models, the new ones can sell.

robert c
Deregulation is the biggest cost driver in health care.

Raymond C
Fraudulent access.

Jim
Lobbyist.

What do you think? Answer below!

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