The point is sound though - x-ray is a very good example of a procedure that is absurdly expensive compared to its actual cost - and compared to any other country on earth.
I'm currently on holiday in New Zealand and had to take my infant daughter to the urgent care. The total cost was $21 USD (including the prescription).
Back in the US it's $330 for a 15 minute appointment with her GP.
There is no way it costs $1,300/hour to run a GP clinic. Between my employer and I, the cost of family insurance is > $20,000/year and we pay the first $6,000 in expenses. That's similar to the TOTAL income tax of a median household in New Zealand - how are they providing all of the functions of government plus universal health care for the cost of just health insurance?!?
It really makes me wonder about the ROI on taxes in America.
These are sticker prices, used for anchoring expectations during negotiations with insurance companies. i.e. if your initial offer to the insurance company was $330, you'd get an actual rate of $25; whereas if your initial offer to the insurance company was $25, you'd get $20.
The problem is that if you don't have insurance, you are charged these total fantasy prices - which is part of why being uninsured in the US is about so much more than just being on the hook for catastrophic costs.
The insurance policy for you and your family costs $20,000PA? I don't know about you, but to me that is madness. My private health cover with Bupa costs me less than $1200PA.
Healthcare in the US is so bogged down by regulation, standards, certification, etc, that there's really no room for competition. You have to buy the X-ray machine that's 40x overpriced. You have to use the software that's 200x overpriced. You have to hire the guy with 8 years of schooling.
American healthcare could be a lot better if we just allowed more breathing room for competition
