It’s disturbing to see multiple comments that “capitalism” is to blame for the costs in healthcare. The US healthcare market is the least free market in the US. Capitalism (when there is true competition) brings down costs pretty universally. Those parts of the market that are market oriented tend to get better and cheaper over time (for example, generic over the counter meds, needles, and even health care panels, AI health advice) all getting better and cheaper. You can get pretty cheap panels of blood drawn, for $200 or less with tons of data. It’s only when you hit the regulatory wall and you exit the market do you see costs explode.
Our imperfect system pays for the worlds medical R&D, so I would actually love to see per capita spending remain similar BUT have the market opened up, with a nice safety net at reasonable cost, and money pouring into curing aging and all disease.
Capitalism =\= free-market
We have crony capitalism in the US, healthcare is one of the easiest areas to see it.
Free-market is the illusive perfect sphere. Most markets are oval or amoeba shaped. Rarely can the US achieve a true free market in any industry, since money pours into politics and corrupts the laws and regulations.
> Capitalism (when there is true competition) brings down costs pretty universally.
"True competition" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. There are many conditions that must be true for prices to go down.