According to a comprehensive study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, U.S. admin costs are double that of Canada.[1] More context in this NYT column, which features this quote: "'The extraordinary costs we see are not because of administrative slack or because health care leaders don’t try to economize,' said Kevin Schulman, a co-author of [another] study and a professor of medicine at Duke. 'The high administrative costs are functions of the system’s complexity.'"[2]
Also, these studies don't take into account the time/opportunity cost to consumers of navigating this complicated system, which can be quite substantial.
Also, these studies don't take into account the time/opportunity cost to consumers of navigating this complicated system, which can be quite substantial.
[1] https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmsa022033
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/16/upshot/costs-health-care-...